


There Will Be Darkness Again

by Creaturerarelyseen



Category: Andrew Hozier-Byrne (Musician)
Genre: Bisexual Female Character, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, End of the World, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/F, F/M, Female Relationships, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-16
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2020-10-19 22:53:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 28,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20665139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Creaturerarelyseen/pseuds/Creaturerarelyseen
Summary: The end of the world has been announced. Those smart enough to get out early have fled to small settlements well outside the chaos that has befallen the cities.Danielle and Julie share a deep tender love that is nurtured in the safety of their cabin on the outskirts of the small camp they inhabit.When they are forced to take on two male boarders Andrew Hozier and Alex Ryan things get a little bit more complicated. The two Irishmen ignite a deep passion within Julie that she cannot explain nor escape.Things become complicated as Julie’s feelings grow and Dannielle becomes unsure of their once unshakable relationship.There’s no telling what will happen when Julie finds herself deep in love...with more than one person.





	1. I Fled To The City

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: This story has been rattling around in my head for a while.
> 
> I wanted to deny writing it but honestly it kept screaming to be written.
> 
> I do not quite know how this will be received but we will see.
> 
> Enjoy everyone!
> 
> ****

They had abandoned the cities.

Ran from the towering skyscrapers. The world they had constructed from iron. The stinking metal of the world.

They ran for one reason,

“As Mac explained, there will be darkness again.”

OoOo

The whole cabin, all three rooms of it, was filled with the divine scent of hazelnut coffee. Not the cheap shit that they picked up on the last supply run. The primo stuff that they had been hoarding since the run before that. Danni only ever dug it up from the cool dark earth when she particularly wanted to butter Julie up.

Too much energy sucked from the rickety old generator to warrant powering the freezer to keep the beans fresh. They went old school and buried it in the dirt outside. Nature’s original refrigerator.

Julie took a few moments to keep her eyes closed and breathe in that lovely scent of freshly brewed coffee. She imagine their life before this. Before the beginning of the end of the world. She can almost imagine them in their loft apartment deep in the heart of SoHo. She would still be in bed cuddled under the marshmallow cloud of blankets and sheets. Lost completely to the world as she took her sweet time waking up. There was nowhere to be fast in those days. When she finally dragged herself out of the cloud of soft sheets and even softer blankets she could always find Danni curled up in the chair by the window. The plush seat made from a multitude of faded silk kimonos that looked like a kaleidoscope patchwork circus tent. It was a beautiful chair. The woman in the chair was even more beautiful.

Her legs went on for miles. She always had them pulled up. Her bare feet resting on the coffee table with ease. Her hands would be wrapped around one of their overly large coffee mugs with the ridiculous sayings we loved. “The Face of a Mermaid, the Mouth of a Sailor” was always a favorite of Julie’s. Danni’s hands would leech the warmth from the cup as she held it taking small sips of the dark bitter liquid. They always argued about the type of coffee to make. Danni preferred the bitter end of the spectrum while Julie enjoyed the sour end. One of them was always unhappy with that morning’s brew. It did not matter. A lot of the things that used to bother them simply did not matter anymore.

The large windows that took up a large portion of the wall would filter in the beautiful light gray light of the city. It would fall on her gorgeous light skin, her soft blonde curls, and light up her almond shaped brown eyes. She was a vision in her pj shorts printed with rainbows and a cream colored shirt with palm trees that spelled the world “happy” out in capital multicolored letters. Fuck she was breathtaking in those moments. Julie would take the time to watch her. Fall in love with her a little bit more each day. Danni would eventually turn those piercing brown eyes like the darkest of molten chocolate on Julie and fix her with a glare. She hated when Julie watched her like that. She was the perfect creature rarely seen.

Julie pulled herself out of her head. Out of the memories that are almost painful to think of anymore. When the world went to shit as the scientists and politicians and world leaders realized there was not much left to salvage when staring down a cataclysmic destruction of the universe. Then world had erupted into chaos. Every man, woman, and child for themselves. The smart part of the population got out of the cities before it all went to hell in a hand basket. Now they lived in small populations far outside the old realms of civilization. It was safer. Though they were only postponing the inevitable. The destruction of life itself. People always said that the moment you are born is the moment you start dying. No one makes it out of life alive. Oh how right they were.

Julie lifts her arms over her head and stretched. She knew when she opened her eyes she would find an empty bed. The only clue that Danni had ever been in the bed was the crumpled sheets where she had tossed and turned in the night. Danni had not slept soundly since they had left the city. She always told Julie that she could not sleep in the silence with the crickets that never stopped chirping. Julie had never slept more soundly away from the constant droning noise of the city. They were polar opposites but they did not let that get in our way.

The sound of the lyrical tinkling of wind chimes lead her to the front porch like an auditory trail of breadcrumbs. There are easily over a dozen of them hanging from the rafters of the front porch. All of them are different. Some made with pieces of stained glass, some made from shells collected along the shores of the lake a mile hike from here, pieces of scrap metal etched with the designs of intricate labyrinths. Danni made all of them. It was a past time of hers. Something to do. She made them for the rest of the camp too. A small way of contributing beauty to a world so devoid of it now. Julie found her standing under the wind chime made from cerulean blue glass worn smooth by the waves that gently lap at the shores of the lake. It was one of her favorites.

“Finally awake I see my love.” She offered Julie a cup of coffee her English accent straight forward yet still holding an immense amount of warmth. She shoots Julie one of those half lipped smiles that simultaneously melts Julie’s heart and sets her body afire. She pushes a mug of coffee towards Julie who accepts it graciously.

“So pray tell what is it that had you breaking out the good coffee?” Julie asks nonchalantly even though she has a mild worry of what is going on in Danni’s head right now. It is rarely good news when she is quiet and contemplative like this. Julie takes note that Danni is in one of Julie’s good white button down shirts that she stole from a men’s section of a department store during one our last supply trips into the city. Danni may be taller but Julie has a larger frame. It hangs off Danni like a dress. Danni had not bothered to button the shirt and Julie could see the gorgeous pink flesh of her full nipples and that dusting of brown pubic hair that hides her luscious sex. It is a crisp morning as the summer is slowly bleeding into fall. Danni’s nipples stand hard against the soft material of the shirt. Julie is always blown away by her beauty no matter how long they have been together.

“I do not want to take on any boarders. Not this time.” Danni keeps her eyes straight ahead as she releases this statement. Julie sighs and takes a sip of the coffee that has begun to cool in the chilly air. Julie comes to stand next to Danni. She tucks a piece of hair behind Danni’s ear and kisses her lightly on the cheek before leaning her forearms against the porch railing.

“You know it is our duty to take in boarders. You also know it is our turn to do it. It is not optional if we want to stay here.” Danni sighs and leans against the railing herself so that they can see eye to eye. Instead of making eye contact they simply stare out into the woods that are already filled with the calls of birds and the rustling of the leaves overhead.

“I have a bad feeling about it this time. Let it just be. Please just let it be Julie. Please.” Julie can feel the intensity in the sound of her words. It is a desperate plea. Still Julie feels her sense of requirement to be a member of this community. This community means a semblance of safety in a world that is thoroughly fucked. They need that safety.

“What have you seen Danni?” Julie is almost afraid to ask. Danni has a tendency to get feelings and thoughts that color the future. They never use the word “psychic”. It left a bad taste in their mouths. However, they had learned to trust the things that Danni saw and felt. Julia’s hands gripped the cup tighter as she waited for her love to speak.

“The end.” Julia almost laughed out loud. They had all seen the end. The end of everything. It was coming and there was no way to stop it.

“Danni that is not something that we can control love. There will be darkness again. Worrying about it only sours the time we have left.”

“No Julia, the end of us.” Julia’s grip on her cup became so strong she worried she would crack the ceramic mug into pieces. She turned so that her back was against the railing and she could regard Danni with her piercing blue eyes. Danni stared back with her deep brown eyes so sad in that moment.

“Not a chance babydoll. Not a snowball’s chance in hell.” Julie tipped Danni’s chin up with a single finger so that she could place a tender kiss on her lips. 

“They don’t always come true.” Danni admitted and her eyes looked a touch less downhearted. That lovely percussion of wind chimes filled the silence that stretched around them. Julia glanced down at her windup watch and swore. She turned and gulped the coffee down doing the nice sour taste of the brew a disgrace as she drank it greedily.

“I’ve got to go. They will have the new group of refugees any minute. I need to be there to greet them. Forgive me baby for loving and leaving you.” Julia placed a firmer hasty kiss on Danni’s lips before slipping back into the cabin. She grabbed her pair of gray jeans that had been carelessly flung to the ground the night before in the throws of their passion and shimmied her hips into them. She grabbed a thick wool sweater knitted by Danni onto her shoulders. Slipping into a pair of worn out sneakers, she would have to look for a new pair on the next supply run, she made a quick exit kissing Danni one last time before running off into the thick expanse of trees.

OoOo

As Julie came rushing up to the small group of campers that had gathered to welcome the newest members of their community she caught a good look at the new group of survivors they were bringing in. They looked worse for wear. As if they had hit a couple of rough patches on their way here. Some had cuts covered in blood long since dried. There were bruises across the board. They had obviously gotten into a few disagreements with some roving communities on their way from the city to here.

“Julie!” Tom called to her and she made her way through the crowd elbowing people out of the way when it was required. People were too obsessed with watching the new group to show any manners and bother to get the fuck out of her way.

“Tom how are you?” Tom, the man that had graciously taken charge of this god forsaken camp that had been in anarchy before he put a foot down and created order, gave a dismissive wave of his hand at her words. He was ex-military and ran the camp like a pro. He had offered her a position as second in command. She had politely turned him down. He had yet to accept that answer. He needed good people working with him he told her. She told him she had a duty to be home for dinner with Danni. If she spent the time taking care of the camp she would be lucky to crawl into bed after midnight. It was not worth it. Some people might kill for any type of power in this powerless world. However, she was not one of them.

“Julie I’d you to introduce you to your two boarders.” Julie balked for a moment.

“Two?” Danni and her and only ever taken on one at a time. Two were a lot of extra work. More food the be spared, more water, more electricity. It was a big drain on their small amount of resources. Crafts and structure building did not exactly afford them the luxury of expendable resources. Tom scratched the back of his head looking a little sheepish.

“Yeah sorry. They kind of come as a package deal. Good friends as far as I can tell. I don’t know any one kind enough to take them both in.” Kindness would be the death of Julie but it was a habit she could not seem to shake.

“Right. Well by all means make the introductions.” Julie gave a sweeping of her arms wide in a lead the way gesture. Tom nodded with a look of relief and pure gratefulness on his face. They moved through the crowd and stopped in front of two men. The first thing that Julie noted was the sheer height of the two of them. They were lanky like trees. Their backs were turned to Julie. She noted that they were deep in conversation. Tom cleared his throat in a less than subtle gesture. The conversation died and they turned towards them. When Julie set sights on them her breath caught. They were strikingly handsome and despite how roughed up they looked, one with a large gash across on cheek the other sporting a black eye, they were quite perfectly gorgeous in all their boyish charm.

“Julia this is Andrew Hozier and Alex Ryan.”

“Nice to meet you.” They seemed to say in tandem. Their accents were delicious and fell on her ears like the sweetest of melodies. Then they both fixed her with sheepish lopsided smiles and she practically felt like swooning.

Oh boy she was in trouble.

OoOo


	2. The End Was Soon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Caught some type of death plague from my visiting sister.
> 
> Awesome.
> 
> I’m not sure about this story yet.
> 
> Let me know what you think.
> 
> Peace, Love, and Andrew Hozier Byrne.
> 
> ****

The coolness of the early morning was seeping from the earth as the heat of the midday creeped in. The world was on the verge of fall yet summer did not want to let go. It clung with greedy hands to this side of the world as if it knew this may be the last summer ever to be had. It begged to be given more time, then again didn’t most everyone. Yet, fall hung above summer holding the sword as summer laid it’s head on the execution block. It was only a matter of time until fall let the blade descend and the world would be plunged into chilly mornings, changing leaves, and that barest taste of frost. Summer’s time was up. Eventually, their’s would be too.

“It’s a short hike back to the cabin. Less than half a mile.” Andrew shot Jules a look and she laughed. Yes, she definitely remembered when she would shoot someone a look for saying a half a mile was a short hike. The world was changing. The world had changed. It would soon end then all this will have been for not. For now it was better to get with the program that outside of the cities they did not drive. It was better to trust your own two feet to get you where you needed to go. Relying solely on yourself had become most of the camp’s motto.

They were a mismatched bunch. Only two families with children. A few couples. A lot of people caught in the airport away from their families when the world went to shit. Danni and Jules had been enjoying a weekend detox from the world in Jules’s family’s cabin when the news of the world ending as they knew it hit. It had been quite a surprise to have a hoard of people descend on their vacation cabin screaming about the sun exploding in a few months, the cities going berserk as the governments went into their own design of hiding, and that it was safer to be away from the chaos of people running around like chicken’s with their heads cut off.

There’d been a small grouping of summer cabins around the lake that accompanied Jules’s. Slowly their makeshift camp was established. When things were settled enough Tom started directing rescue missions of those still holed up in buildings with dwindling supplies. You would be surprised how apeshit crazy people go when there’s no structure and the end of the world is looming. It does not a safe place make.

“So is it just you there then?” Alex looked exhausted and there was a sadness about him. Jules had to do a double take at the sound of his voice. It was a much deeper timbre than she had expected from a man with such boyish good looks. He regarded her through his one good eye. The other was a beautiful bruised shade of violet edged with a wooden brown. He had taken a good punch thrown to the face. She felt a deep pang of sympathy. It was not for the shiner he was sporting less than proudly but for the deep sadness she saw in his good eye. The sadness clung to him and settled amongst the three of them. It was a sadness that almost everyone carried with them now. Everyone lost someone in the decline of the world. Whether to death or to distance it was not anyone’s business to ask. Still Jules felt for this young man who looked far too broken for someone so young. Andrew hid his emotions well but his ache could be felt deep within Jules. It was a painful cut right up the middle like a festering wound. They hurt. Both of them. Jules, empath that she was, ached with them. They all silently mourned all that had been lost in the past month.

“No, my girlfriend Danielle and I share the cabin. It’s rustic but there are two extra rooms so you won’t have to share.” There was a simple nod from the two of them and they quickly dissolved into silence once again. The sunlight filtered through the green canopy of leaves above them and illuminated them in halos of beautiful light. The birds flitted from branch to branch calling out to no one in particular. There was a cacophony of sound yet it was nothing like the drone of the cities everyone was so used to.

“The name Hozier sounds familiar.” Jules left it as a statement so that they could choose to answer the unspoken question or not. She did not want to pry. She had long since learned it was better to not ask questions these days. Some people dissolved into tears at certain ones even the benign type. Other questions you simply did not want to know the answer to.

“We are...were in a band.” There was a fresh slice of pain that ran through Jules in that moment and she knew it was a very sore spot. To death or distance. It was always the question. Did they lose them to death or distance. It did not necessarily matter. They had lost them. That was what was important.

“Right. I think Danni has one of your vinyls. It’s uh...the blue one I think.” A ghost of a smile crossed Andrew’s face and Jules felt just a small bit of lightness in that gesture. It was a simple gesture, a smile. Though these days each smile was worth it’s weight in gold. There were so few smiles left to give. Danni still made Jules smile on a daily basis. Jules knew just how blessed she was to have Danni with her and not have lost her to distance. If the world had fallen apart a day later Danni would have been a plane back to London. Distance or death. Always the question. Jules did not have to ask it in regards to Danni. That she counted as a blessing beyond reproach.

They finished the trek in silence. She had offered to carry one of their bags but both of them had refused. It was not unusual. When the only possessions you have left in the world are strapped to your back you’re not keen to hand them over to a stranger.

Jules breathed a sigh of relief as they rounded a bend in the trail and the cabin came into view. It was not much. Nothing like some of the luxury cabins that the rest of the camp had taken over. It was home sweet home though. Plus how many cabins had a long legged, blonde haired, angel painting landscapes on it’s front porch? Theirs and theirs alone.

“Baby girl we have visitors.” Alex had seemed to pause in his tracks as he took in the sight of Danni. She was a lot to take in sometimes. Jules was shorter and rounder with a deep chestnut hair pulled back in a braid. She had easily adapted to the end of the world style of survival chic. Often rocking long jeans, hiking boots, and whatever shirts she had managed to lift from the sporting goods or department stores when they hit the city for supply runs. She had nicer clothes, dresses, skirts, even lingerie for certain times when she was not hiking through the forest or crawling across roof trying to repair tiles. Danni refused to give up her city garb though. She was currently painting in a pair of jean shorts that made her legs look like they were about a mile long, the dark swatch of amber skin emerging from the gold paint splattered shorts. Her stomach showed as she reached for a different brush. She had exchanged Jules’s shirt for one of her white tank tops with a darker long sleeve button down that she had tied at the chest and pushed the sleeves up on. She looked like the world was not crumbling around them. She looked beautiful. She looked so inexplicably Danni.

“Well bring them in then.” Danni called without turning towards them. She almost did not want to see them. These men. These men she had seen that were so much trouble to everything she had built with Jules. They were dangerous. Tame as lambs they were but they would be the end of them. Danni had already seen it. Therefore she did not want to see them. Eventually she sighed and dumped her brush into the water cup on her easel. She wiped her hands off on the towel she kept next to her. Turning she fixed her eyes on the two men. They looked worse for wear. Definitely having hit some trouble along the way. That was not unusual for these times. She noted that one of them was staring intently at her. She shot him a look and the one good eye he had fixed on her quickly began roaming over everything but her. The tall one looked at no one and nothing in particular. He looked like a man that had seen far too much. Everyone had these days.

“Hello love.” Jules called as she took the stairs two at a time. She placed the palm of her hand gently against Danni’s cheek and let their lips meet firmly but with a deep tenderness. There was something about kissing Danni that took her completely out of time and space. She felt the world melt away for just a moment as their lips met. The world went silent. Even in the cities all the traffic, horns, yelling just faded away. Out here it was the opposite. The forest created a symphony of sounds to accompany their kiss like the soundtrack to some epic on screen kiss in an old black and white movie. Jules pulled away reluctantly. Danni was never the first one to break the kiss. It was always Jules who pulled away first. It was something Danni was very much aware of while Jules was completely oblivious.

“These two are from the band that you have the blue vinyl of remember?” The two boys had made their way up onto the front porch and Alex regarded Danni’s painting with reverence. Danni regarded him with annoyance. She wanted nothing more than to shove the boy off the front porch. Call her petty but she would be damned if either of them got between her and her love.

“There are wash basins in the back. It’s not high class but it will have to do. I’ll boil some water.” Danni ignored the question Jules asked and instead stared the boys down until they got the message and began to move towards the back of the house. Their movements were slow as they trudged down the porch stairs. They were tired, hungry, and sick. Sick of this world. They would not have to worry about that for long.

“You’re being quite kind.” Jules noted with a deep sense of sarcasm as she followed Danni into the house to help get the extra room ready. They had only been expecting one lodger so she would have to hastily make the second guest bed.

“Believe me Jules, they might not look like it but those boys are trouble with a capital T. Just...” Danni trailed off and Jules paused in her search through the linen closet.

“Just what baby?” Jules could tell that Danni was really struggling with whatever it was she was thinking. She abandoned her search for another pair of sheets that did not have roller skating cats on it. She came up being Danni and wrapped her arms around her waist from behind and rested her chin on Danni’s shoulder. She ran the tip of her nose down Danni’s neck and kissed the skin lightly. A shiver went through Danni at the feel of affection from her love.

“Just don’t get too close to them okay? Please.” Danni’s words held a desperate edge to them and it made Jules ache wholly and completely. She used her hands to guide Danni’s body around so that she could look into Danni’s dark brown eyes like freshly roasted coffee beans.

“They’re pretty guys Danni but you are my love.” Danni looked over the planes of Jules’s face and tried to find a falter in what she had just said. Danni knew she was sincere. She also knew the danger of pretty boys. She always had. She was the insecure one in the relationship. Despite the fact that Jules had never shown even a wavering in her devotion Danni always worried about her dedication. Jules regarded Danni as a goddess of beauty while considering herself a mousy girl next door type. Still never once had she doubted Danni’s love for her. It was not a good feeling to weigh yourself unequal in love.

Danni leaned down only slightly and kissed Jules deeply with a fiery passion. The world dissolved around them in that moment and Danni forgot all about the trouble the two Irish boys were bringing to their doorstep.

The world was ending. If you could forget for a moment it a was miracle. The world however never forgot. There was always trouble on the way.

OoOo


	3. Sharp And Glorious Thorn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I am actually quite happy with this chapter.
> 
> My weekend will be crazy and I am still getting over a cold.
> 
> Updates will happen as quickly as possible though.
> 
> Peace, Love, and Andrew Hozier-Byrne.
> 
> ****

Those boys cleaned up well. It’s an awkward way to wash. Standing in a large aluminum tub pouring pitchers of warm water over yourself is not an easy task. The water cascaded over skin speckled with goosebumps from the nearly fall air tinged with a chill. Come winter baths would become few and far between. No one in camp looked forward to those moment. The winter would come hard, fast, and harsh. It would be fall one moment. The leaves like golden wedding bands, burning wildfires, the blooming red of a fresh cut. Then suddenly without warning the leaves would drop all at once like a multicolored blanket. The chill would turn to cold then to freezing. The branches of the trees would ice over. The snow would fall in fat thick wet flakes. Flurries so thick that may the Universe bless your soul should you get caught out in the fury of white. To be caught in the snow storms here meant death. Winter was feared. Winter was dreaded. Winter was on the horizon.

Water like rivers ran it’s way down Andrew’s body washing away caked on mud, flecks of dried blood, the salty sweat that had gather across his skin. There was something purifying about the water. Something so sweet and pure. It was like being washed of your sins. All the holy water in the Vatican could not wash his soul clean. He enjoyed the water anyways. The benign magic of coming clean of body when he could not come clean of his secrets. Alex knew more than these two innocent women who had taken them in. Alex did not know everything though. He ran weary hands down his face and wiped droplets from his eyes. Still water dripped over his upper lip into his mouth. It tasted clean and fresh. His hair was hopeless. He did not even make an attempt to detangle it. It would take a prayer and a miracle to make it manageable. He did not believe in either so he left it as it was.

Alex’s hair blessedly straight and baby fine in texture was better managed as he finger combed the wet strands into order. The day was cold and he shivered slightly from the cold. The women had been kind enough to boil enough hot water to wash them clean of the past few weeks. The memories, the pain, the secrets. The physical aspect of it washed away. The scars on the psyche remained pure and raw. They would not wash away quite so easily. Confession only would grant absolution from all they had done. He did not much believe in that idea. He glanced at Andrew to gauge his mood. It was no different than showering in the open stalls after a gig. Nothing new to see. Andrew looked lost in a far off place.

“I realized I forgot to bring towels. Oh shit. Sorry!” The words came fast and furious and both boys whipped around quickly. Jules stood there holding a towel open in front of her face to block her view of the two men. With a quick turn she whipped herself around to turn her back on them. Her modesty brought a small smile to the two men's faces.

Jules face burned brighter red than the leaves soon would. She felt like her whole body was on fire. Everything burned from the roots of her hair down to her very toes. Her clit throbbed as the image of the two men stayed burned into her mind. A hand reached around her head and gently took the towel from her hands where she still held it outstretched like a curtain. She could feel the male presence behind her. So close she could smell the quintessential smell of a man. Feel the hot breath of him gently ruffling her hair. They were both much taller than her but this one towered like a tree behind her. Andrew. If it was possible she burned even hotter.

“Thank you.” His voice was soft and she could do more than give a sharp nod still facing away from him. His arms reached around and took the stack of mismatched beach towels she had clutched in her arms. He practically had to pry them out of her arm as she stood rigid as a statue. It was almost like she had her back to a dangerous animal. One wrong move and they would devour her. She would not quite mind I this one would devour her. She would gladly sacrifice herself.

“Right. Well then. I uh...if you want to uh...put clothes on I’ll show you the house. Danni and I will cook dinner. You uh...right.” She had not mumbled through this many lines since she was in the school play. It was a travesty her performance then and it was a travesty now as she made an absolute fool of herself.

“Thank you for your kindness.” Alex’s voice though deeper felt less heavy. Andrew’s voice held such a weight of emotion that it was like drowning in the words. Just as the two women did not use the word “psychic” they also avoided the word “empath”. Blessed or cursed? The gifts of each woman was forced to face that question. They remained unanswered.

“Yup yup yup.” Fuck she sounded like an idiot. Not like herself at all. She was highly intelligent. An IQ that registered on the level of genius. Yet, she saw two men naked and turned into a bumbling idiot. One question came to mind. What the flying fuck? Without another word she took long stalking steps away from them as quickly as she could without breaking into a run.

“She’s kind and pretty cute.” Alex noted in a sweet but absent way. Andrew watched Jules practically run away from him and a smile spread across his face. A smile he could not explain. It had been a good long while since he had smiled a true smile. Alex was right. She was kind and there was something beyond simply cute about her. There was an exquisite sense of innocent beauty about her. Despite the end of the world he saw hope in her. He sensed love in her. A love for Danni that barely existed in this world anymore. It made his heart ache in a way that could only be described as longing.

“She is something that should have died out with the end of the world.” Andrew remarked his voice sad with a low growl of anger to it. It angered him to feel anything. His pain was something he deserved. He deserved to eat the sin of the world. He wanted to hurt. He wanted to bear this cross. He wanted to suffer. Maybe then his existence would be worthwhile. He did not want to pine after something he did not deserve. Something he may never have deserved to possess. Something that now he most certainly would do nothing but corrupt. But oh how he wanted to corrupt her.

Andrew tossed Alex a towel. They quickly dried off and changed into the ill fitting clothes that Jules and Danni had provided. The shirts were too large and the pants on the tight side. They certainly would not be walking a red carpet in these outfits. It did not matter. They were clean. That alone was heavenly.

OoOo

Jules hurried herself into the cabin. Danni stood at the gas stove and moved chunks of potatoes thick with the scent of rosemary and lemon juice around a cast iron skillet. They sizzled and spit as she poured red wine vinegar onto the hot pan. Danni glanced up from the potatoes to note Jules entrance. When she saw Jules face red and looking mortified she turned more than a passing glance onto her.

“Jules what the fuck happened?” Danni took a defensive stance with one hand on her hip still holding the wooden spoon she had been using. Jules turned wide eyes on Danni. It was comical the way she looked so spooked by something Danni imagined was mundane.

“I uh...saw the boy naked. On accident.” The second part of her statement was added as an afterthought. A clarification that was not required. Danni let out a low chuckle though a tiny kernel of jealousy blossomed in her chest. Whether she was jealous of her lover seeing another naked or the fact that her lover had seen someone she herself would not mind seeing naked she was not sure. She bottled the feeling like fireflies in the night. It glowed on but now it was contained. If she kept the lid screwed on tight enough perhaps it would wither and die.

“Was it worth the mortification you're currently displaying?” Danni’s accent was high brow English. A proper English lady she talked with a sharp wit and was capable of even sharper tongue lashings.

“It was uh...cold...I would say thought it was definitely worth the embarrassment.” Danni burst into laughter at Jules’s statement and it caused Jules to dissolve into a fit of laughter at her own discomfort. It was so absurd. She had seen men naked before. She had fucked men before. Made love to them. Studied the planes of their bodies. The sharp angles of their hips. The line of hair leading down to their cocks. None of it had every made her uncomfortable. Why did seeing two men in bathing bother her so much? She honestly could not explain it.

“Are you going to let us in on the joke?” The rhythmic sound of Andrew’s Irish accent cut through their laughter that had burst forth to fill the cabin. The laughter stopped abruptly for a moment. Then Jules and Danni caught each other’s eyes and dropped into laughter again.

Andrew smiled for the second time that day. The second time in weeks that his lips had curled back from his teeth. An impish carefree gesture. He did nothing carefree these days. Everything was serious. Everything was difficult. Everything was pain. Yet, looking at these two women caught up in a bought of full belly laughter at some joke unknown to him pulled at something good deep inside of him. Some semblance of who he used to be that now lay dormant. He watched them. Carefree. Fuck it was beautiful.

Alex could not tear his eyes away from Danni. The way her white blonde curls bounced with a lightness as her body quivered with laughter. He height rivaled his yet Jules was not dwarfed next to her. They were both tall girls. He felt a pull to Danni he could not explain. She was so sure of herself. Everything she did was with full intent. No question. No hesitation. Pure confidence. She was completely sure of herself while the rest of the world questioned everything. Her brown eyes were harsh and sharp when they fell on him. Daring him to keep looking at her while at the same time demanding he look away. Yet, when they fell on Jules there was tenderness there. It was the only time her defenses came down. When Danni looked at Jules it was nothing but a love of the purest kind. It made him hurt to even cast eyes on Danni. She was not to be his. No, she was already hers.

When the laughter subsided, dying with a giggle here and there, Danni turned her attention back to the potatoes that were on the crispy side but still perfectly passable. They did not waste food. Not these days. Her posture became rigid almost to point of angry as Alex and Andrew passed her. It was unconscious to her. She felt defensive around them but was oblivious to her hostility.

“There are plates in the cabinet and silverware in the drawer. Set the table...please.” She added the last word almost through clenched teeth. She wanted desperately to push them away. To keep them away. There was so much danger to these boys. A danger that could not be ignored in this age of destruction. In this age when all things good and right in the world were dying a slow and agonizing death. They could destroy something good. Something so good.

“It’s nice to have someone to set the table. It’s usually me she’s ordering around.” Jules told the boys with a laugh and a jovial wink. The boys smiled. Andrew’s mouth spread wide in his third smile of the day. Alex's eyes stayed sharp on Danni.

Oh yes, these boys could destroy so much. They were a wildfire. Ready to consume the two women in their flames.

OoOo


	4. Love I’ve Been Dreaming Of

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Still sick.
> 
> Getting to updates as I can.
> 
> Deepest love to all.
> 
> Peace, Love, and, Andrew Hozier-Byrne.
> 
> ****

Dinner was a lesson in silence. The cabin was the silence at a funeral. The air filled only with the chirping of crickets outside and the sound of forks scraping across the mismatched ceramic plates like nails on a chalkboard. Everything was mismatched in this place. Everyone in the camp was always giving to those who needed and taking what was given to them by others. It was a kindness so foreign in this world built of cruelty. Jules had heard that many of the surrounding camps in close communities adopted an every man for themself policy. Tom had enforced an attitude of camaraderie. Jules and Danni had given most of the things they had started out with away as people moved into the camp. Slowly but surely things were given back to them. A trickle of items gathered in supply runs found their way back into their home. Now nothing matched. The sheets, the silverware, the flatware, tablecloths, towels. None of it matched. The eclectic mix of items never bothered Jules or Danni. No, rather it bolstered them. In seeing that mix they saw the faces of all their neighbors who had given back to them. They saw community. They saw goodness. That all gave them hope.

Jules glanced at Danni a few times during the dinner as they all sat quietly eating the simple yet delicious meal that Danni had put together. Danni would gives Jules a look out of the corner of her eye then turn back to the meal. It was almost a shrug that look. Jules would look at Danni seeming to ask ‘should we say something?’ then Danni would catch Jules’s eye and say ‘I’m not sure. They seem upset. Maybe we should stay quiet?’ It was the kind of body language, the use of words without even speaking them, that couples who had connected so deeply were capable of. They could speak with speaking. They could communicate without even opening their mouths. It was eerie and beautiful.

The weight of the pain the boys were carrying hung in the air. Each bite of food was reminder of kindness that they had long since given up on. The city had been hard on them. They had lost friends, friends that were more like family. They had...they had done things they were not proud of. They had seen so much pain and absorbed it so deeply that they could not shake it from their body. It ate at them. The food was delicious but it fell heavy into their stomach. Sinking like stones. They had long since stopped talking to each other. Now they could not seem to muster words to say to their hosts. The dinner was silent and uncomfortable.

The generator gave a great bellow and kick then the room was plunged into a darkness so deep that everyone paused. Jules felt a hand on her back steadying her. The hand was large and splayed wide. It was not Danni’s hand and her skin tingled at the feel of those calloused fingers brushing against the bare skin that her tank top revealed.

“Stay here. We’ll check it out.” Alex’s voice deep and holding an even deeper sense of concern came from the space next to Danni. As Jules’s eyes adjusted to the darkness she noticed Alex’s hand on Danni’s shoulder. The bright light of the large moon almost full hanging outside falling in through the windows and open doorway illuminated them. Despite feeling a great sense of excitement at the feel of Andrew’s hand on her seeing Alex’s hand on Danni’s shoulder sent a shockwave of jealousy through her. Danni’s look of intensity that spanned between Andrew and Alex was almost comical. Jules couldn’t tell if Danni was more pissed that Alex was touching her or that Andrew was touching Jules. Either way if Jules did not jump in soon one of them would soon be missing an arm.

“You both can relax. The generator is set to kick off at night to save on fuel. We light candles at night. If you’d uh...” Jules gentle lifted Andrew’s hand off of her shoulder holding it by his thumb. Danni continued to stare daggers at him. Andrew took on a look of bemusement as he regarded Jules's careful removal of his arm. Danni was less ceremonial at shoving Alex’s hand from her shoulder. He looked taken aback then a look of mild humor passed over his features. Jules was used to seeing in this darkness so it was easy to pick out their expressions. The boys on the other hand were completely oblivious to the way the women glared at them with venom in their eyes.

Jules rose unhindered from Andrew’s grasp and moved to the drawer by the stove. She pulled out a box and struck the wooden match against the side. A small ball of fire lit up the end and she moved to light the candle, long and tapered, half burned, in the candlestick by the stove. She took the candle and began almost ceremonially lighting the candles and lamps throughout the kitchen. She would light the oil lamps, oh yes they had been sent back a few centuries, when everyone shuffled off to bed.

Andrew stare at her intently over the burning flames. The way the flames cast her face in a warm light she looked even more pure than she did in the daylight. It was a purity he so desperately wished he possessed. Whether the characteristic or the woman who encompassed it he was not sure. He would have put his money on the latter rather than the former. She looked at him and a gentle smile passed over her lips momentarily. He felt a lifting in his heart that he had not felt in such a long time. It was so amazing a feeling that it started an ache in his gut. She looked like a woman who could save him. He had no desire to be saved. He turned away from her. The look of pain that passed momentarily over her face was missed as he turned his back to her.

“Right well...Danni and I will handle the dishes. I’ll show you your rooms. They’re not much but a bed is a bed.” Jules shrugged trying at the same time to shrug off the feeling of pain that Andrew had caused in her chest. It was ridiculous. If he wanted to rebuff her kindness he hand every right to. They held no ties. Many a boarder had been less than accepting of their bubbly personalities so unusual in this new world. Why did it suddenly bother her?

“Hurry back babe. I’m not doing the dishes all by myself.” Dannie joked with Jules and Jules smiled. She kissed Danni gently on the corner of her mouth and shot her a smile full of mischief. Danni smiled and smacked Jules lightly on the ass. They both giggled in that bubble of happiness that they shared. Alex and Andrew had to turn away from them. To see the love they shared in a world so devoid of that element was almost like staring directly at the dying sun. If you looked too long it would blind you.

OoOo

“Well that was an extremely awkward dinner.” Danni expressed as she took off the diamond studs that were the last possession she had from her family across the lake. Diamonds were worthless in this world now. Everyone was fighting over food, shelter, and basic necessities. Someone was more likely to cut your throat for a roll of toilet paper than a pair of diamond earrings. She wore them with pride and without fear. Though she did most things these days without fear. There was one thing she feared in this world so filled with hate. Her sole fear was of losing Jules.

“It was definitely something...well yeah it was super awkward. Let’s just be honest about that. I mean would a little introduction or even some talk about the weather have been asking too much?” Jules slipped into a purple jersey knit nightgown with black polka dots and a swath of black lace across the back revealing her shoulders. Danni pulled on an oversized shirt with a yellow cartoon bird on the front. Nothing was particularly sexy about either outfit. Yet, they were fitting. Jules the mousy diamond in the rough beauty of the relationship wore the more alluring outfit and Danni the almost six foot stunning Brit played it down with something simple. There was nothing conscious about their outfit choices. It was whatever was comfortable yet to the outside observer you could see the differences in the two.

Danni curled up under the covers and Jules crawled in to join her. There was a large patchwork quilt that covered the bed. A relic from Jules’s late grandmother’s era. Jules’s grandmother had stitched each piece of fabric together by hand. The squares taken from old dresses, shirts, overalls, anything that had meant something to her over the years. Jules treasured it. It was one of the few items she had left from her family. Had they known when they left their apartment to come to cabin for a weekend that the world was about to fall into chaos they would have brought items that held more meaning. The things they would have coveted if they had known it was the end of the world. Life. No one is getting out of it alive.

Danni’s hands glided over Jules bare arms and Jules practically purred at the feeling of her love’s touch. Her head tucked into the nook on Danni’s neck, her cheek resting against Danni’s chest, she listened to Danni’s strong heartbeat. It beat in her chest like a drum rallying the troops to war. Danni placed a gentle kiss on Jules’s chestnut hair. They lay in a silence that was utterly comfortable and completely different to how the dinner had felt.

The air was chilly but their bodies create a warmth that could rival that of the sun that was knocking on death’s door. Jules let her fingers trail down the center of Danni’s stomach. Her touch was light, almost a caress, as she let just the tips of her fingers stroke Danni’s skin. Goosebumps rose from Danni’s flesh that had nothing to do with the cold. Her lover’s touch was sure and so different from how she was in the rest of life. So shy and at times adorably awkward, in bed Jules was perfectly capable of taking charge. Her touches were confident and without fear.

Her fingers drew lazy designs on Danni’s inner thigh and Danni could feel her clit begin to throb. She opened her legs and Jules’s fingers inched higher and higher. Soon she stroked Danni’s clit with expert hands. Pushing Danni’s panties to the side Jules plunged a finger into Danni’s sex. Danni gasped with a deep sense of pleasurable shock. Slipping a second finger inside and moving to rub Danni’s clit with her thumb Jules moved so that she could nibble playfully at Danni's neck. Her free hand moved to knead the beautifully soft skin of Danni’s left breast. Jules worked Danni’s body expertly, drawing forth from her the deepest groans of pleasure. Their lips met and that moment where time melts away hit. The world of shit outside faded. It was simply them, in the throws of passion, the room lit by the pale light of an oil lamp, the only music the sound of Danni’s moans and the crickets serenading them outside.

Danni’s breath quickened as she climbed the hill a little bit at a time. Soon she stood on the top of the precipice and waited just a moment before falling into the abyss. She cried out with sweet release that was anything but quiet. Jules slowed her movements and trailed light kisses down Danni’s collarbone. As Danni quieted Jules hung above her staring down at her deepest love. Her fingers were still inside of Danni as they took a moment to enjoy the afterglow and be damn grateful that in this world they still had each other when there so many people who went without another. A creak of the floorboards caused them both to turn with quickness. Alex stood looking awkward and sheepish at the entrance of the door to their room.

“I uh...bathroom.” Was all he could manage to stammer out after catching them in the throws of passion. Jules pointed down the hall and to the right. He nodded and risked a quick glance at the two before practically running down the hallway away from their room.

Danni looked and Jules and Jules looked at Danni. It took barely a moment then they both dissolved into a fit of laughter so loud it could be heard three cabins down.

OoOo


	5. Honey Belongs To Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Nope haven’t died or gone on hiatus.
> 
> I got the flu and was down and out for a few weeks.
> 
> Back at it again.
> 
> A few of my fanfics will be taken down soon.
> 
> I’ll keep you updated.
> 
> Enjoy this chapter!
> 
> ****

Hatred has a way of eating at you. It takes small bites of your soul. Wasting it away a piece at a time. It is like a snake eating it’s own tail. Slowly it devours itself twisting your guts into something unrecognizable. It’s a slow pain that bleeds you a drop at a time. It aches, it burns, it cuts.

Andrew hated. He hated what the world had come to. The destruction, the chaos, the utter desecration of the last shreds of humanity that had been hanging on by a thread. Now that thread had frayed and the world had plunged into a darkness so deep it was absolute black. No light could penetrate this darkness. People murdered, pillaged, destroyed. They caused so much pain to one another. When the world goes to shit the pent up hate of the world finally bleeds through.

While they were holed up in the city Alex and he had witnessed the atrocities of the last shreds of the population. He had seen the world without mercy. He himself had treated others without mercy. Kindness was not something worth saving in this world. This world was damned. A thousand times over it was damned. The world was devoid of goodness.

He hated the world. He hated the people left in it. Mostly he hated himself. He hated what he had become. What he had done. The secrets that he carried. He hated every single piece of it.

When he saw Jules laughing with a lightness like the way a bird soars on the warm breeze it cut through the fuckery he had swallowed. The complete destruction of his hope was halted. He felt for the slightest moment...happy. There was no other way to put it. When he saw Jules happy as she could be laughing at some inside joke that Danni in her crisp English accent made he felt so many things he had sworn he would never feel again. He hated himself so much. Yet, he hated even more that she caused that hate for just a moment to dissipate. She would look at him and smile closed lipped and easy. When she smiled at him like that it was like he was the only man in the world. It was as if she saw no one else but him. He felt the deepest of connections with her that he could not explain. He yearned...no he could not even let his thoughts get that far.

Jules loved. With her whole heart did she love what was left of the world. She loved the small camp that had banded together through the harsh times of the world. She loved the sound of the birds outside the cabin in the mornings. She loved finding the bed empty only to stumble half asleep onto the porch to find the early bird sovereign Queen of her heart seated in one of the deck chairs staring at an empty canvas pondering the possibilities of the art she could create. She loved the smell of coffee even when it was the garbage lowest price store brand that Tom was so fond of bringing back from supply runs. She loved with her whole heart. Everything she could not love she embraced with the deepest part of her soul. She tried to see the good in everything.

Her polar opposite that she loved completely and wholly was her other half Danielle. She loved the blonde five foot nine goddess of beauty. The English Aphrodite on the half shell. She was all long legs and glorious blonde curls. She was movie star gorgeous. Even when she just woke up she looked beautiful with that just fucked look. Danni took no ones shit and Jules made sure that no one gave it to her. It was not Danni’s looks that had Jules captivated. No, it was her very being. The way they could communicate with their eyes. Simple exchanges of looks could express entire sentences. Staring into Danni’s irises like sea foam Jules could read everything about her soul. They connected on a level that felt metaphysical. There was something between them that could not be described in words. Jules loved Danni. Without doubt, without hesitation, without conditions.

Jules looked at Andrew and felt a stirring. She felt a warmth that started in her gut and spread across her body like a wildfire to dry kindling. It threatened to burn her alive the way it set her alight. It burned hot and wild and intense. She could feel him. Jules could feel his pain. The secret that he held deep within him and the way it festered like a wound. She wanted to go to him, place her hands gently upon his cheeks, look into his eyes, and tell him it would be alright. To tell him that she forgave him. He had nothing to apologize for to her. Yet she knew that a gesture as simple as that could release him from the bonds he had wrapped himself up in. He smiled rarely if ever. She thought every once a while that when she turned her head just so she caught the hint of it leaving his face as he looked at her. If she could grant him the forgiveness he so desperately needed she knew he would smile again. Then as if like sunlight in the darkness that had begun to spread across the world he would part his lips and beam that smile down upon her.

Jules loved Danni. Jules felt something stirring for Andrew. Jules was wrapped up in a deep seeded feeling of guilt. Guilt has a way of eating at you.

Andrew saw kindness in Jules. He saw no conditions in the kindness she showed him. He saw no expectations. He saw someone pure of heart. A perfect creature rarely seen. He felt something within him stirring. Andrew was wrapped up in his self hatred. Hatred has a away of spreading through you like poison.

OoOo

It took only a few days for the hatred that Andrew felt towards himself to start the sickness. It started with a simple aching through his body. He was slower helping around the cabin. He found himself leaning against the counter to keep upright.

A cough dry like the autumn leaves falling outside quickly followed. Then the cough got deeper into his chest. He began to cough long and hard. Hacking up bits of phlegm speckled with blood. 

The weakness came next. He found himself out of breath just from carrying the dishes from the table to the sink. He could barely stands some days. Jules watched him from the side of her eyes with brow creased in worry. He would catch her sometimes before she could quickly look away. Their eyes would meet and there was an understanding there. He was sick. Sick in a world where sickness now meant death. There was no space for the weak in a world so hardened. She acknowledged his denial. She acknowledged that he needed to feel that way to survive. She let him be. She let him be until the fever came on.

He collapsed at the kitchen table one day. Jules had come back to the house to pick up a few tools. They were erecting a new cabin, rustic like theirs, on the other side of the camp. New boarders meant new buildings. Danni had left to deliver a painting to one of the luxury cabins across the lake. Alex was out searching for an apprenticeship. It was the only way of earning yourself a job in the camp. Earn a job and you got to stay. Andrew had promised to leave the cabin the next day to look when Alex could watch over their makeshift home.

Jules found Andrew on the floor of the cabin his body alive with chills and wet with fever. His heart was soaked and she pushed the strands back with her fingers as delicately as she could. He was conscious but barely. Getting her arm under his shoulder with his stumbling help she was able to lift him from the ground and lead him back to his room. He collapsed to the bed so hard she was worried he would bounce himself off to the ground. His body shook with the fever as she covered him with as many blankets at they had in the cabin.

She stayed with him. Holding his hand and speaking quietly to him when he was lucid enough to see her face. To recognize her. She talked of calm and joyous things. The smalls pleasures in life that they so often missed these days. Like a plate of gooey chili cheese fries. It was complete idiotic babble but he would grant her the barest twist of his lips in a smile. She loved those moments. When he would look at her with warmth. It was so different from how he usually looked. Fierce and angry with the world. She could not blame him for that feeling. The world was a dark place now. She still managed to find the light.

Danni arrived a few hours later long after Jules had fallen asleep in the chair next to Andrew’s bed. Danni found them with Andrew’s eyes locked onto Jules’s prone form like she was his lifeline. His anchor. Danni flashed with jealousy so deep that she saw in the world in a flash of emerald green. Then her eyes took in Andrew’s condition. The quaking of his body. The flush of his cheeks. The sweat pouring down his forehead. She understood. She forgave. She found a kernel of sympathy.

A coughing fit from Andrew woke Jules from a deep sleep. She was exhausted. She had spent the past few nights awake listening to Andrew cough through the night. That sound drove her mad and haunted her dreams even when she did manage to fall asleep. That cough almost certainly meant death.

Danni took Jules's hand and led her into the hallway.

OoOo

“I know what you’re thinking and the answer to that question is no.” Danni held Jules still with both of her hands braced on Jules’s shoulders. Jules stared her down meeting her glare for glare.

“I know you know what I’m thinking. I also know that you know I'm going to do it anyways.”

“It’s fucking suicide for a stranger Jules stop being daft.” Danni’s words were desperate. She knew the stubbornness of her lover. She knew exactly how this conversation would go.

“He will die if I don’t.” Jules’s voice held the weight of that fact. She left the sentence hanging in the air between them. A moment of charged silence fell between them as they continued to stare each other down. Danni broke first and spun on her heels swearing loudly.

“God fucking damn it Jules it’s idiotic! But I know you’re going to fucking to do it anyways.” Danni was pacing the hall and practically screaming at this point.

“Of course I am.” Jules’s answer was nonchalant and it infuriated Danni.

“Then answer me why. Why put yourself in danger fro him? Why?” Danni turned and stormed down the hall staring Jules down once again.

“Because that’s the kind of person I am and you know it.” Jules words were resolute and without pause. They rang true and Danni fumed as she stared Jules down again hoping beyond hope that she could kind a crack in the armor that Jules now wore in spirit. There was no weak link. Nothing to break this decision. Danni let out a wordless scream and stormed down the hall and out the front door of the cabin.

Danni knew Jules was that kind of person. Danni knew when the world went to shit that Jules would still sacrifice herself for a stranger. Danni also knew it was the exact thing that would get Jules killed. She knew because she had seen it.

OoOo


	6. Don’t Ruin This On Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Feeling a great deal better today.
> 
> I’ll get the test results from my spinal tap tomorrow.
> 
> I won’t lie that I’m a little nervous about that.
> 
> I’ll keep you updated.
> 
> Trying to get back to a writing schedule.
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> ****

“A supply run?” Tom looked at Jules skeptically as he began loading boxes of emergency supplies into the back of one of the pickup trucks they would be taking into the city. The small amount of ammo they had stockpiled. MREs or Meals Ready to Eat to those who didn’t know all the military acronyms she had learned from Tom. Blankets. Basically anything they would need if everything went to shit and they had the hole up in a building for a few days. The general goal was to get in and get out in under two hours. No muss, no fuss, no confrontations, no loses. It was the idyllic version of a supply run. It rarely ever went that way.

“Yes I need to get some things.” Jules shuffled her feet uncomfortably. She liked Tom. He acted like a father figure to her and she respected him for that. She was in her late 20s and had no need to be babied. Tom didn’t baby her but he sure as shit made her feel like she still had a family. Maybe she did. She probably would never know if her family was still alive somewhere. Maybe in a camp much like this one. She still had Danni. Now she felt a kindred feeling to Alex, much like a close friend despite Danni’s despise of him. She felt something completely different for Andrew but was unwilling to delve into what exactly the emotion was. What it was that was growing slowly in her chest. She had Danni. Which meant she had family no matter what.

“Didn’t Danni ban you from supply runs since the last time when...well you remember.” Jules rubbed at her shoulder. She could feel the spindly knot of scar tissue hidden beneath the wide strap of her tank top. Her men’s soft plaid shirt had fallen off her shoulder slightly. Just enough to reveal the spindles of purplish scar tissue that branched out in a star pattern. Tom glanced at it momentarily in an absent way probably not even aware that he had looked. When he caught Jules watching him he quickly turned his eyes back to the boxes he was loading into the back of the pickup truck.

“Yes she did. Tom you know what I need. You know why I need to go on this one.” Tom rubbed a hand against the back of his neck and looked into the woods a blank look on his face. He stared deep into the depths of the trees his mind racing with all that he wanted to say in that moment. The way he wanted to forbid her from going. He had no right. He might act like her dad but that didn’t make him so. If a camp member wanted to go on a supply run they had every right to make the request. As long as they weren’t going to be a burden they were granted a ride into the city. Jules was hardly a burden. She was more than decent at hand to hand combat, she knew how to shoot, she hated to handle a blade but she wasn’t bad at it. The short of it was she could handle her own. He knew that. Still he hesitated.

“It’s suicide what you’re thinking Jules. You know the people holed up in the pharmacies. You know what they’ll do if you even try to touch the stash of drugs they’re hoarding. They will kill you Jules.” Tom looked at her with true fear in his eyes. Whether it was fear for her or simply for the cruelty of this world she was not sure. A sharp pang of cold anxiety pierced her chest like an icicle. It was the first time since making this decision that she had truly felt scared.

“He will die without antibiotics.” Jules set her feet firmly and crossed her arms over her chest. It was the stance she took with Danni when Danni was being particularly stubborn as Jules made some sort of argument that Jules was clearly losing. It was Jules’s don’t ‘fuck with me’ stance.

“Maybe...maybe it’s better to just let him Jules. I’d rather one burial than two.” He looked at her from the corner of his eye and saw the deep line that settled into her brow as anger overtook her.

“I will not let him die.” Her words were like stone. Completely without question. There was not a thread to pull at, a crack to exploit, there were no flaws. It was resolute. Tom knew in that moment he could either let her come along or she would find a way on her own. The former she might survive. The later...well he might as well start digging the grave now.

“Why him Jules? Why put yourself in danger for him?” Tom truly could not understand the depths of empathy and compassion Jules still felt in a world of hatred and violence. Even so, he could understand Jules putting herself in this kind of danger for Danni. For some random boarder though? Where was the logic in that?

“I don’t know.” It was the most honest answer Jules could give in that moment. She honestly did not know why she would go on this kind of an idiotic mission for someone who was practically a stranger. She was not ready to answer that question with more depth for herself let alone for Tom.

“I’ll go with her.” Neither of the two had noticed Alex sneaking up quietly behind them. They had been too absorbed in their own arguments to notice the lithe Irish man make his way through the trees towards them. It was a talent, sneaking up on people, that would serve him well in this world. Tom looked from Alex whose face held little emotion to Jules who looked about ready to set Tom on fire with her glare if he chose to keep arguing with her.

“Fine. Jules load up. You.” Tom pointed his finger at Alex as Tom’s face took on a fierceness that Jules had never seen. “You will do everything you can to protect her. She might be foolish enough to take on this endeavor but I would gladly sacrifice you for her any day. If someone comes at her you kill them. If someone threatens her you kill them. If a grenade falls from the sky within even a mile of her you throw your skinny damn self on it. Is that understood?” Tom kept his finger pointed at Alex as he went through his monologue. Alex’s face remained passive but Jules noted a tightening in his body.

“Understood.” Alex made no argument with what Tom said. Jules was Danni’s love. That meant he would protect her at all cost. Even if it did mean throwing himself onto a grenade to protect Jules. He did not know how to put into words the pull he felt for Danni but he knew he’d do damn about anything to protect her from any type of pain. Losing Jules would be a pain she could not survive. It was a pain he could not heal for her. Therefore he would protect Jules at all cost.

“You don’t have to go with me you know.” Jules didn’t look at Alex as she said it. Somehow knowing she would have some type of backup in this for lack of a better phrase, suicide mission, brought her comfort. She was compassionate enough to offer him an out though. She would go alone if she had to. She would not force another to lay down their life for her.

“You don’t have to put your life on the line to save my friend. We’ll call it square.” Alex grabbed a baseball bat from the box still sitting next to the truck. Jules reached in and to Alex’s surprise picked up a lacrosse stick. He quirked an eyebrow at her. She brandished it and flipped the stick in her hand before settling it firmly in her grasp.

“I played in college. I can do some pretty good damage with this thing.” She smiled wanly at him and he smiled back.

“I said everyone load up!” Tom’s voice rose like a roar and Jules knew it was not the first time he had shouted it. Several people jumped into motion. Jules pulled herself up into the bed of the truck. Alex followed suit. Tom gripped the back door and slammed it shut behind them.

“Protect her.” He fixed Alex with a stare waiting until Alex nodded. Tom turned his gaze to Jules and it softened only slightly. “Don’t do something stupid Jules. If it gets bad then get out. I’m not kidding.”

“I know. I will.” Tom gave a nod before backing from the truck. He moved to the front of the truck and banged his hand twice on the cab. The truck roared to life filling the forest with the grumbling growl of the engine. With little time to think over her decision the truck sprang forward and Jules could do more than settle in. Her body swayed as the truck moved over the rough terrain of the forest floor.

“Is Danni still angry?” It was the last question Jules wanted to ask before dissolving into the silence of the ride.

“Completely pissed.” Alex expressed and Jules hung her head. Alex clapped her on the shoulder once. “She’s only angry because she loves you.” He watched Jules expecting to see her body relax at the words. Instead her body stiffened as if made of granite.

“I know.” The words were simple but held a weight like a stone. They fell into silence as their shoulders bumped against each other as the truck bed rocked with the movement of the vehicle.

OoOo


	7. I Would Shun The Light

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey guys and dolls!
> 
> Still trying to get my feet back under me with this flu.
> 
> I wound up in the ER last week from it.
> 
> Thank you all for sticking with me and leaving comments.
> 
> It’s been great thank you so much for that!
> 
> Enjoy.
> 
> ****

He dreamt of her. As the sweat poured down his forehead in rivulets. One moment his face was flushed a crimson so bright it was like the unmarred skin of the apple that sent Sleeping Beauty into her deep slumber. The next moment the color would drain from his cheeks until his pale skin was practically translucent.

Danni had long since given up on trying to get him to the meager bathroom when he got sick. She finally found a bucket thick with rust in what used to be a garden behind the house. Andrew would periodically lean over the bed and wretch into the bucket. His entire body heaved with the effort and he cried out in pain as his entire body screamed with aches deeper than the invisible cut that he held in his chest. His body was tired. It was ready to be done. It had held so much pain that anymore and it would give out completely. Some part of him deeper than his conscious mind hung on though.

She had given him hope. He hated that she had given him hope. Though he did not hate her. Had he never met her then he would have long since given up. Yet now in his delirious state all he could think of was her bright smile that lit up her whole face. She was childlike innocent in those moments as she held nothing back in her smiles. Her entire face split wide to express the happiness she felt. He could not help but feel honored by even one glimpse of that smile when she turned it on him. When she smiled at him it was like he was the only man on earth.

That damnable smile kept him going even though he did not want to. It would be so much easier to just let go. Still his body fought and fought. Each moment and each minute he grew weaker and weaker. His body quaked with chills from the fever that ravaged him.

Danni cared not for Andrew. It was not that she was a cruel person. Jealous yes. Cruel no. She did not care for him as she was not blind to the way that Jules looked at him. Danni was not blind to the glances Andrew gave Jules when she was not looking. Danni cared not for Andrew because he cared a little too much for her love. Now as the woman that was her whole heart risked her life for him she could not help but resent him. If Jules did not come back Danni would gladly place a pillow over Andrew’s face and let him slip away painlessly. It would be a peaceful release for both of them if Jules did not come back.

Despite the fact that Danni was less than inclined to give a care for Andrew she knew Jules would want her to. She played nurse to the best of her abilities. Spreading blanket after blanket over his shivering body. Emptying the bucket when it needed to be emptied. Jules damn well better appreciate that simple act alone.

When Andrew was awake he mostly mumbled incoherently. Danni would speak in a quiet and kind tone speaking mostly nonsensical phrases. She would chat about the weather. Talk about the bright red cardinal she saw outside the window. This particular one liked to hang outside the front porch as Jules would often throw it sunflower seeds when she got a pack from a supply run. Tom knew they were one of her favorites and often made sure to pick up a few packs. As Danni spoke Andrew’s eyes would remain on Danni’s face. They were mostly glazed and unfocused still he heard her words. It was a comfort.

Danni was mopping some of the sweat from his face flushed with fever when he opened his eyes from the sleep that had pulled him under. She expected his eyes to roam the room before settling on her as they most often did. Instead his eyes with a look sharper than any he had given her since the fever began locked onto her.

“Where is Jules?” Danni cringed at the question. ' Risking her life to save your sorry ass’ is what Danni really wanted to say. Instead she settled for a more neutral statement.

“She went to get some antibiotics.” She was attempting to skirt around the issue. His eyes narrowed and she knew she was being anything but nonchalant.

“You keep them on hand in the camp then?” Danni looked into his eyes and could see the no bullshit look they held. He was practically daring her to lie. She wiped more sweat away from his brow before it could run into his eyes.

“No, we do not. Her and Alex went on a supply run with Tom.” The moment the words were out of her mouth Andrew swore. Attempting to lurch from the bed he managed to get one arm down against the mattress before his arm gave way and he collapsed in a heap back on the bed.

“Will you knock that shit off. You’re too weak right now. You’ll only hurt yourself.” Danni gently pushed him back to the bed as he attempted to stand once again.

“I have to go stop them.” Andrew’s voice was hoarse as the stomach acid had burned at his throat and the energy in him was fading.

“They’re already gone. There’s nothing to be done now. Now will you fucking take a chill pill and relax? It will all have been for naught if you die before they get back.” Andrew looked into other eyes. He did not see the trust or kindness that Jules showed him yet there seemed to be a small flicker of respect. Respect for giving enough of a shit about Jules to try to stop her from risking her life for him. A small amount of tolerance for this man bloomed in Danni’s chest. Mentally she stopped imagining placing a pillow over his face. He cared about Jules. It made her feel both joyful and completely envious.

“They shouldn’t have gone.” Andrew’s voice was barely above a whisper and Danni had to lean in to hear him her blond curls dipping towards him.

“No shit Sherlock. Now shut up and heal.” Danni wiped some more sweat off his brow and pulled the blankets he had pushed off in is valiant attempt to stand back up to his neck. He looked at her with a sense of respect and she tried to convey her mutual respect back in her eyes.

“If Alex doesn’t protect her I’ll kill him.” Andrew was already beginning to drift back into the fever induced sleep. Danni let out a small chuckle though she knew he was completely serious.

“You and me both.” She stated plainly as she leaned back in the chair she had placed next to his bed ready to hold vigil over his slowly dying body as she waited for her love to return.

It would be a long wait.

OoOo

The truck swayed back and forth as they moved over the potholes and bumps of the cracked asphalt. They had long sine left the rough terrain of the forest floor. The sharp turns as the driver quickly avoided trees heavy with the burning leaves of autumn had knocked Jules into Alex more than once. She had at one point ended up sprawled across his lap as they hit a bump and the truck thudded onto the ground with a large thump. They shared a small smile as Alex helped Jules to sit back up. There had been nothing romantic at the particular action yet still Jules’s cheeks burned from having her head quite unceremoniously resting right above his crotch. She knew now that he packed right and the flush in her cheeks refused to disappear as she tried to get that thought out of her head.

Her stomach began to churn as they began to pass signs announcing the arrival of the closest city to the camp. This city would soon be pillaged to it’s bare bones which would force them to drive farther for supplies. If they made it that long before the sun chose to envelop the earth it meant more danger. Any amount of time on the road was asking to be attacked by a roaming camp looking for easy pickings.

Jules gripped the lacrosse stick tighter as the buildings began to pass by. Towering like sentries guarding the precious supplies within. Their cool glass exteriors and metal skeletons were desolate as the last of the world was barely clinging to life. Almost as if remembering it’s last trip to the city Jules’s shoulder began to burn where the knots of scar tissue formed that almost perfect star. She rubbed at it absently.

Some part of her wanted to wait in the truck until they were done. Just pull the cowardly move and let it all go. No part of her wanted to venture into the pharmacy. As everyone said it was a suicide mission. The people coveting and holding onto the last of the precious medication left in the world were vicious, strung out on pills, and beyond all that crazy. No one bothered to collect any medical supplies you could not find in the grocery stores. It wasn’t worth risking more people to save one. The needs of the many outweighs the needs of the few. Utilitarianism at it’s finest.

She contemplated just calling it all off. The anguish of how she and Danni had left things weighed heavy on her. Yet, the moment she thought of Andrew’s form so lithe and sick. The way she had found him collapsed by the table caused her resolution to solidify. She would do this. The coward in her melted away and a certainty took her over as she gripped the lacrosse stick tighter just as the truck lurched to a stop. She exchanged one look with Alex and he looked at her. For a moment there was a tenderness in each other’s eyes then their features hardened to steel. They were in this together. May the powers that be help them they were in this together.

Jules accepted Tom’s hand to help her down from the bed of the truck. He gave her hand a small squeeze as he looked her over as if it would be the last time he saw her.

“Take this.” He pressed something heavy and cool into her palm. She looked down to see one of the precious few handguns they had left. She shook her head and tried to push it back to him.

“You need it.” She insisted. He took none of it and kept it pressed to her hand until she finally took it. Checking to make sure the safety was on she tucked it into the back of her jeans.

“Jules there are only five rounds. If you can’t save yourself with three...well just save the last two for yourselves.” Tom’s voice was quiet and full of sadness. Jules choked back a tear at the lack of hope in his voice. She did not want to die. It was less the fear of dying and more the fear of leaving Danni alone in this very fucked up world.

She gave Tom a nod and turned. Facing Alex they looked at each other with determination. Turning towards the west Jules began to lead the way keeping the lacrosse stick clutched in both hands in front of her feeling the weight of the cold steel pressing against the back of her. The gun felt heavier than her heart, but just barely.

OoOo


	8. I Thought I Dreamed Her

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I really don’t feel like explaining where I’ve been.
> 
> Depression is part of it.
> 
> The rest I don’t feel like talking about.
> 
> Still I hope you enjoy this chapter.
> 
> ****

Over the progression of a few hours as Jules and Alex made their way deeper into the city and deeper into danger Andrew grew sicker. His bod slowly betrayed him trying desperately to destroy itself in the process of saving itself. The fever grew higher until he shivered so violently that Danni was constantly picking the blankets up from the floor and draping them over him only to have them shook off of him again. Her singular focus became to keep him alive until Jules returned. Not if, but when Jules returned. Danni did not allow herself to question if there was a possibility. Keeping her mind focused on Andrew’s survival kept her from dwelling on the question of her lover’s current condition.

Every moment Danni’s mind passed over to the idea of Jules lying crumpled against a pharmacy shelf her life slowly draining out of her with the torrent river of blood that escaped from the wound dug deep into her chest, her shoulder, her neck, Danni would throw her mind back into sustaining Andrew. Keeping him on just the cusp of life as his body threatened to go over that cliff into death. He was nothing more than a project, this living being. No more of a distraction than if she were nervously painting on the porch waiting for the return of Jules. She resented him still. For how he looked at Jules. For the fact that Jules was now out there for him. It was enough to make her blood boil. It didn’t matter. Jules had left and now Danni could do no more than focus on Andrew to keep herself sane. Just as Andrew was hanging on to life by a thread so was Danni’s sanity without Jules. If Jules did not return there was very little question as to whether Danni would survive without her. Thrive was a far cry. Survival alone was in question. Anything more than that was asking for the sky and the moon and the stars.

Danni fidgeted nervously with the half moon pendant she wore around her neck. A silver crescent with a moonstone hanging like a teardrop from the tip of the moon. Jules had surprised her with it one January morning. There had been no occasion. No one’s birthday or a holiday. Just a day much as any other. Jules was always sweet like that. She’d see something she thought Danni would like and couldn’t wait until the next special occasion. Danni would wake to find small boxes wrapped in colorful ribbon sitting on the seat of her chair, or on top of her paints, sometimes even in the fridge next to the creamer. Danni liked finding the gifts in their odd places more than she actually did the gifts. Though everything Jules picked was always gorgeous it was just the act of the crazy gift hunt that made Danni smile. Fidgeting with the necklace after washing out one of the buckets Andrew had been getting sick into she stared off into the woods.

'Please. Please come home.’ Danni thought quietly before with a sigh releasing the pendant and grabbing the rusted bucket to return to her project named Andrew.

OoOo

“The closest pharmacy is a few streets over.” Jules kept her voice low and her eyes laser focused on the world around her. Sure people went a little nuts after the scientist announced the sun would expand and turn the world into a boiling wasteland before absorbing the entire earth and sending the universe back into darkness. Still it seemed like people shouldn’t have gone this crazy. This vicious. This angry. This destructive.

She held her lacrosse stick out in front of her like a shield. Ready to body check anyone who decided to come her way. Alex had the baseball bat slung against his shoulder and it bounced a little as he moved. The light kept catching the glint of the ring Jules wore on her right hand. A simple mood ring shapes like a crescent moon. Danni had bought it for her when Jules had given Danni her moonstone pendant.

“Now we match! Well...sort of.” Danni had been so sure of her statement then quickly backtracked when she realized that her gift was not nearly as elegant and thought out as Jules’s had been. Jules had grinned, slung her arms around Danni’s shoulders, which can been a feat with their height difference, and stood on tip toe to kiss her love with a passion that paled in comparison to the love that roared within her heart.

“I love it.” It had been a simple phrase but it caused Danni’s face to break open into a wide smile and they’d shared a more passionate kiss so long that eventually they broke into breathless giggles. They often giggled when they kissed. It was just that kind of happiness.

Now the little crescent moon on Jules’s hand glowed an angry red as her body heated up and her heart beat faster in fear. This whole world was fucked and they were just as much so as they made their way to the closest pharmacy. It didn’t matter which one. Any of them would have a small band of tweekers trying to keep hold of the last of the world’s medical supplies.

The tell tale red awning began to come into view as the pair rounded yet another corner. Jules kept careful track of each turn they made ready to retrace their steps if they made it back alive which is seemed very few people seemed to think they would.

For the first time since setting out on this foolish mission and storming out on Danni Jules paused her thoughts and asked herself ‘What am I doing?’. I mean really what was she doing? She was risking her life for a stranger. She was putting her life on the line not for someone she’d loved for years like Danni. No, for Danni she would have stolen a truck, a gun, and a day’s supply of food and shot anyone who had gotten in her way as she tore her way out of the camp looking for whatever it was Danni was in need of to survive. Yet, here was Jules risking everything she had with Danni for Andrew. She failed to grasp the logic of her own decision.

“You okay?” Alex’s hand on her shoulder made her jump. She jerked out of her thoughts and nodded numbly.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just trying to focus.” She risked a glance at him to see him looking at her skeptically his mouth half cocked in a look of disbelief at her statement. Jules turned back from him and paused on the other side of the street from the front door of the pharmacy.

“Do we have a plan?” Alex’s voice was more than a whisper as they both looked at the store across the street. So unimposing with it’s large smiley face sticker on the front door and a large front mat that said “Welcome” in large print all ushering people in.

“Kick the door in and try to not get killed I think ought to do it in terms of a plan.” They both quietly knew that short of a miracle they were thoroughly screwed. Alex let out a low chuckle and they exchanged a look of amusement. Then that smile faded from both of their faces as they turned back towards the glass door looming across from them.

With a deep breath and a glance down both streets the pair walked up to that sliding glass door. It slid open with a hiss and an overpowering stench greeted them. There was a moment of silence as the stale air blew over them. Then all hell broke loose.

OoOo


	9. Grievances Raised

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I really have no excuse for no updates.
> 
> I have been sick, working crazy hours, and been hit by writer’s block.
> 
> Still mostly it was some personal matters that kept me from the fandom.
> 
> I hope this chapter makes up for it.
> 
> Peace, Love, and Andrew Hozier-Byrne.
> 
> ****

The smell is what hit Jules first. It was like human waste slowly drying on moldy linoleum that had sat dormant for far too long. Sickness. That is what the pharmacy smelled of, death and sickness.

There was a rush a movement as the light from outside filtered into the murky darkness of the interior of the building as if cockroaches had been exposed to a kitchen light and they were all scuttling to move. To hide.

Jules held her lacrosse stick tighter ready for a fight. She had anticipated a mass of angry drugged up bodies coming at her like a freight train. Yet, after the initial tell tale sound of people moving into their hidey holes an eerie silence fell.

Jules shot Alex a look and he looked back at her. There was an edge of wide eyed fear in each of their eyes as their eyes met and locked onto each other. Then as if sensing the love each of them held in their heart for those waiting back in the community a cold icing of determination came over them.

Alex gave Jules the slightest of nods. A simple tip of his chin. She returned it much the same. Just a gentle bow as if acknowledging the sacrifice each of them were making. It reminded Jules of yoga classes when at the end they would raise their clasped hands up to their third eye and murmur “Namaste”. The rough translation being “I acknowledge the divine within you.” In that moment they did worship the divinity of their mission within each other.

As the magic of the moment passed Jules turned and took point. One foot into the door and the other hovering out until finally pulling her shirt up to cover her mouth she moved completely into the store.

She could sense Alex’s presence behind her like an intuitive feeling as if her hair was rising on the back of her neck. She could swear she felt his shallow breathing ruffling the delicate sensitive hair that rest on the back of her neck. For just a moment an electric shock went through her and she closed her eyes. Almost as soon as she did she snapped them back open. Now was not the time to be inside her own head.

Jules snapped back to her senses as she moved slowly down the middle aisle. The shelves were mostly bare and she was careful of where she stepped in case of stepping wrong on top of one of the large shards of glass that lined the ground. Boxes of bandages, empty bags of snacks and candy, and broken bottles of perfume littered the ground. Jules tries to breathe even more shallow as the overwhelming scent of flowers tried to overtake the smell of rotting death that pervaded the entire pharmacy as she stepped over several smashed bottles of designer perfume. Their purple glass littered with rhinestones crunched under her feet. She was almost to the counter that separated the store from the backroom of the pharmacy where they kept the medicine. It was easy, far too easy.

Jules paused and sensed Alex pause behind her. She looked around getting a 360 degree view of the store thanks to the anti-theft mirrors that lined the top of the walls. Still she saw no one. She could sense them though. It was like a million eyes on her in that moment. She exchanged a look with Alex and moved towards the counter again. Perhaps they had gotten lucky. Extremely lucky. Only in a world so close to the end there really was no such thing as lunch anymore.

As she placed her hand on the counter ready to lift herself up and over it a cry like a banshee cut through the silence and a long thick hunting knife came slamming into the counter with the sound of splintering wood as the tip dug deep into the top of the counter narrowly missing Jules’s thumb. In that moment the bubble of calm, that strange sense of serenity right before a storm, burst and suddenly people were streaming from the aisles.

Jules raised her lacrosse stick and thrust it forward into and up against the woman’s nose. She felt it crunch under the pressure and suddenly a stream of blood came spurting forth from her nose and sprayed across the counter. She screeched and stumbled backwards. It gave Jules the advantage to take a swing at the woman’s head. With a triumphant crack the lacrosse stick met home with the temple of the young lady and she collapsed. One down about five more to go.

Alex was holding his own managing to wield the baseball bat well in such cramped corridors. Still he had his hands full as several desperate, drugged out and half crazed young ones came at him. He barely had time to glance at Jules to see if she was still on her feet before a few more were on him. He was amazed to see her already on the other side of the counter desperately moving through the aisles.

It seemed to be going as well as it could at the moment as Jules moved quickly through the aisles looking for antibiotics. Anything would do at this point. She simply did not care. Just some type of antibiotics. Preferably a few packs or bottles of them just in case the first dose didn’t work. Her mind drifted to Andrew, sick in bed, barely able to lift his head and that moment of daydreaming equaled her doom. Hands grabbed her from behind. A piece of cool metal pressed against the back of her head and she froze.

“Drop the stick.” The voice was raspy like the person it belonged to had been chain smoking a carton for days. He probably had. There was a wheezing cough behind her and the metal barrel of the gun pressed into the back of her skull harder.

“Move.” She dropped the stick and began to walk forward with her hand raised only slightly. The man forced her to the front of the counter. Everything seemed to pause then. Alex stood with his hand resting on the counter obviously ready to jump over it to join Jules in her hunt. His body went rigid and he stopped where he was when he saw Jules at gunpoint. His eyes went wide then narrowed with murderous intent. There was a dead silence for a moment then the man choked out a sickly laugh that turned into a coughing fit. When the coughing stopped he spoke again.

“I should thank you. Taking everyone out for me saved me some bullets. No more bickering over who gets this pill or that pill. Just peace and that sweet sweet high.” Jules listened to the faceless voice talk as she quietly lowered her hand and gripped the cold metal of the gun tucked into the back of her jeans. He was too busy savoring the moment to notice.

With a flurry and a shout Jules pulled the handgun at the same time she shoved the man’s arm up towards the ceiling. A shot went off and a shower of plaster rained down on them. She turned but not fast enough. With a crack something hit her in the chest and a pain like none other blossomed in her chest. She knew that pain well. It was the same kind of pain as when the bullet entered her shoulder on her first supply run. It was now the same as it sunk into her chest.

She felt herself falling but only faintly. She watched through glazed eyes as Alex jumped the partition. The two men fought tooth and nail for a while as Jules felt her blood pumping in her ears. The sound grew louder like rushing water. She cold feel warm stickiness under her. With the little strength she had left she placed her hands over the wound and applied as much pressure as she could muster. She was only vaguely aware of seeing Alex standing up and the man nowhere to be seen. Alex held the gun in his hand and raised it only so slightly. Jules cringed as the shot rang out in the store. Then there was dead silence save for the sound of life slowly leeching from Jules.

OoOo

It came on suddenly. A dizzy spell like one of Danni’s migraines that she used to get. She was out back emptying the bucket that Andrew had once again vomited into.

Danni knew he did not have much longer. Still she fought to keep him alive. All so it wouldn’t be for not. The sacrifice Jules made. 

The dizziness came on so fast that she had to rest her hand against the side of the cabin to keep upright. Her breathe grew shallow and she cringed.

Tears sprang to her eyes and she whispered a single word.

“Jules.”


	10. Into The Empty Parts Of Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Still trying to manage and balance my life.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter.
> 
> I’m doing my best with updates as I can.
> 
> Peace, Love, and Andrew Hozier-Byrne.
> 
> ****

He felt it. In his fever induced state, when the heat ravaged his body, scrambling his mind, turning up to down and down to up. As the word spun in circles. When the sounds outside filled his ears as if they filtered through a tank of water. When his mouth was so dry that his tongue, ever once so silver, stuck to the roof of his mouth, sticky and dead as he tried again to lick his parched lips. In one moment he was caught up in his misery. Then as if stuck through the heart with a bolt of molten iron he sat straight up in bed. The women of the community that had gathered round to ease him into his early grave, such a common occurrence these days that it barely phased them, jumped at the sudden movement of the half dead man.

“Jules.” His voice was raspy with disuse and the name tearing out of his throat cut like daggers as it escaped him. He looked up at the doorway to see a less than steady Danni standing there on shaky legs. Their eyes met for only a moment but an entire silent conversation passed between them then.

His arms weak and tired and shaking collapsed beneath him and his head fell back into the pillow.

“Don’t you dare give up Andrew Hozier. When...if...when Jules gets back it damn well better have been for a good reason.” Danni’s voice quavered on the words as she stumbled over her conviction on her love’s return. Andrew kept a gaze that was so intense and clear that it seemed almost that his fever had passed though sweat still broke out on his forehead betraying the heat burning it’s way through his body set on her.

Danni leaned her elbows on his bed and pressed her lips against her clasped hands. Without a word Andrew reached out and took one of her hands in his. His hands were so large and her so dainty that his engulfed her’s. His skin was like fire. Still she gripped his hand tight and pressed it against her cheek not caring that she wetted his hand with her tears. The community women left them in peace. Danni crying silently still with a fierce look of defiance on her face.

Andrew could do no more than watch as Danni stared at the wall. Her eyes turning red with the tears she no longer fought back. Still he felt that intensity that surrounded her like a bubble. ‘Try it’ her look seemed to say. ‘Take Jules away from me and see what happens. Just try it.’ Her eyes dared the world to destroy the one small ray of hope she still held in this world fit for damnation.

May the Universe have mercy on any god daring enough to face up to Danni’s challenge. Her look said all that needed to be said in that moment.

Just. Try. It.

OoOo

Jules was only vaguely aware of the world. Shapes, colors, sensations spun around her in a blurred pattern. Each moment seemed longer than the last. She tasted copper. She felt both warm and entirely cold. As if all the heat held inside of her body was slowly leeching out. She could not get a clear image of the world. She knew only the feeling of falling. The sensation of pain as arms strong with muscle carried her for what felt like miles. She heard the sound of voices shouting. The burning heat of pavement that was so stark in contrast to her freezing body that she begun to shake.

“I won’t leave her.” She could hear the conversation but her mind could not comprehend it. Still she liked the melodic voice so different in inflection than most she was used to.

“Which pharmacy...completely emptied...you took out all of them...enough meds to treat us for months...”

She caught bits and pieces until she felt herself dragged back under again.

It was pain that woke her the second time. Something being tied so tight around her stomach that she cried out. Then the world begun to shake and tilt with movement. She cringed with pain at each sharp move. She was only partially aware that she was in the back of a car. Each bump they hit sent an jolt of sharp pain through her. A strangled cry escaped her each time. Strong hands cradled her head. Gentle hands thick with calluses moved over her forehead, down her cheeks, over her collarbone. She was grateful for the gentle touch so juxtaposition to the abrupt movements of the truck.

“Hang on Jules. Just hang on.” She was unaware that it was Alex who spoke to her. That it was his hands caressing her body in their gentle ways to calm her. She was not in her hazy vision able to see the tears that traced trails down his cheeks.

The commotion as soon as they reached the community was lost on her. By then she was so far gone she could not tell upside from down.

“I’ll get Danni.” She was hanging on the end of a fraying thread. Still at the words her hand in it’s strongest feat of strength struck out and caught Alex’s arm as he turned to leave.

“Please stay with me.” Her voice was barely a whisper like summer wind through the trees. ‘I don't want to die alone’ were the words she kept to herself. The words that she kept tied up deep inside of herself. Alex’s hand closed around her’s and she closed her eyes with exhaustion.

“I’ll go.” She did not recognize the voice though she did not care. Her mind kept reeling over that unspoken phrase.

I. Don’t. Want. To. Die. Alone.

OoOo

Danni had fallen asleep with her head on the edge of Andrew’s bed. At some point his hand had reached out and ran his fever soaked fingers through her thick blonde hair. She smiled gently in her sleep at the touch and he closed his eyes content to let her sleep calmly.

The boy came clamoring into the room without a word. Andrew and Danni both shot straight up from where their bodies had curled involuntarily towards each other.

“Danni come quick. It’s Jules.” Danni did not wait from the boy to explain further. She burst from the room like a shot fired and begun at a sprint barefoot towards the cabin that housed the only doctor in the community out of instinct. The sticks and stones of the forest floor tore at her feet but she did not care. Sticks and stones may break my bones but losing Jules will kill me. The line echoed in her head over and over again.

“Well don’t just stand there. Help me up.” Andrew’s voice was rough from disuse and the young lad stared at him like he was crazy. When Andrew continued to stare at him making it clear that he was not joking the youth stumbled over to the bed to lend a hand.

“Ashes, ashes, we all fall down.” Andrew thought as he hobbled slowly away from the cabin he was slowly dying in and towards the girl that gave him the desire to live.

OoOo


	11. The Same Old Tired Pain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: 2 am writing session.
> 
> I did not post an update yesterday but this early morning writing session can make up for that.
> 
> Glad to be updating regularly again.
> 
> Enjoy.
> 
> Peace, Love, and Andrew Hozier-Byrne.
> 
> ****

Curled in on herself subconsciously protecting her wound it had taken three of the community men to pull her out of her fetal position.

It had seemed almost cruel forcing her posed body out of it’s defensive posture.

Her body language said everything that her voice did not. She was ready to die. Plain and simple.

The world is full of travelers.

Souls riding the tides of life. Adventurers collecting experiences and love and laughter.

They are drawn to other spirits. Like their own stars people gravitate around them like planets around the sun.

Some souls are dim and there are less drawn to them. Some shine bright and draw to them a large cacophony of friends and family and strings of lovers.

There is nothing wrong with being a half lit soul. They are still travelers. They are still adventurers. Their lives still mean just as much as anyone else’s.

Jules, dear Jules, was one of those few souls that burn with a brightness that rivaled the glow of the dying sun.

Her soul was a lighthouse in constant revolution. It drew the lost ships, the hurting souls to her, saving them before they could break apart upon the rocky shore.

Jules saved people whether she realized it or not.

She took in the broken and shined light into the darkness of them. She chased away the shadows.

She made the fuckery of this world bearable.

Alex stared down at Jules’s face that was a mask of pain and saw her for the very first time.

He had seen her in the cabin with that foolhardy grin on her face.

He had seen her in the community, kneeling on the roof of a half finished cabin with a hammer and nail gripped in her hands. Her face knitted in concentration as she drove the nail home into the roof. Building a safe haven for yet another lost family.

He had seen her laughing so easily, a rare talent in this shit world, but had taken that laugh for granted.

He had seen Jules eclipsed by the inner light of Danni.

Danni was a soul that unwittingly drew people in only for her to shove people away.

She pushed everyone away but Jules.

She trusted no one but Jules.

Still Alex had tried to put himself in Danni’s path. To be noticed by the girl that seemed so untouchable.

In trying to step into Danni’s light he had completely ignored the salvation of Jules.

Her hand has been gripping his so tightly it felt like she would crush the very bones of a hand that would never again hold a bass. Never feel those thick strings plucked between nimble fingers. That deep sound bringing movement from a body so often devoid of pleasure.

The feel of Jules’s hand brought back fond memories of a time before the end of civilization. His heart hurt as the strength of her grip released bit by bit.

He brought his other hand to clasp her’s between them as if holding her hand in prayer. He was holding the hand of a dying girl. A soul that had come to the end of it’s journey.

He was not ready to let her go so instead he held her hand as tightly as possible between his two that completely engulfed her’s.

He was unsure if he was holding on so tightly to keep her rooted here in this world or if he wanted to ease her transition into the next.

She was on the cusp of death. All he knew was that he didn’t want to let go.

OoOo

Danni’s feet flew like leaves on the wind.

The last time she could remember running this fast was as a child. Young and free she had run uninhibited.

There was no self conscious thought of what other’s would think.

There was always that precipice between childhood and the ascent to adulthood when that sense of shame finally attached itself to one’s mind.

It was no longer easy to run without care.

No, then you worried how you looked. Wondering if you were swinging your arm’s too much. If your feet made a funny sound as they hit the ground. All the stupid shite that never really mattered but that shamed adult always worried about.

When did that fear of perception set in?

When did you lose the ability to enjoy running so fast that you were a blur to the world around you?

At that moment running towards Jules Danni lost the shame.

She did not care if she looked foolish. She did not care if other’s were watching and judging her. She did not care if the entire world was watching and laughing. Let them laugh. If there was a higher power let even them laugh at her.

She did not give a fuck in that moment.

As if in challenging the Universe she had cursed herself her foot caught on a gnarled tree root and she went toppling to the ground.

Her knees hit first and she felt the sharp pain as the skin of her knees tore. Her palms caught her from the rest of the fall and they too stung with cuts now full of dirt.

She did not pause. She did not take a moment to collect herself.

With the soundtrack of a string of curses she stood and began to run again.

Something ate at her. A feeling rattling around in her chest. It took her only a moment to name it. Loneliness. Sharp and aching. In that moment she knew she had lost Jules.

Running towards the Dr’s cabin she felt completely and utterly alone.

OoOo

Andrew leaned heavily on the young man’s shoulder.

He hobbled along as best as he could. It had been days since had been able to stand. 

Days since he had taken even a step. He had wasted an entire week chained to a bed with a fever that threatened to burn him alive from the inside out.

He had no idea why he was able to stand from that bed tonight. The casket he had resigned himself to be buried in.

He had no idea how he was able to limp along as he held a hand to his side that stabbed with a sharp pain each time his right foot touched the ground.

The only thought that occurred to him was that maybe he had not had a good enough reason to stand.

There had nothing worth walking towards. Nothing to cling to. Nothing to anchor him to this world of utter destruction.

His spirit hurt with the weight of all he had seen and done in this world. He did not realize it but he moved towards the lighthouse of Jules’s soul. He needed to arrive to shore safely and not be dashed against the rocks.

Only Jules could offer him salvation of the wickedness of his soul.

Her siren call grew weaker and weaker until he could not longer hear her drawing him to her. The light grew dim. 

Then all a sudden it blew out completely.

He was a ship left in the darkness of a storm with hundred foot waves hurtling towards the cliffs with not a light to guide him.

OoOo


	12. The Voices Died With Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I’m dealing with some intense personal stuff at the moment but I’m trying to get back to regular updates.
> 
> Thank you for sticking with me.
> 
> Peace, Love, and Andrew Hozier-Byrne.
> 
> ****

Alex felt her hand go limp in his. One moment she was squeezing his hand so hard that it felt like she would crush every single bone. Then her hand released his.

Jules held onto Alex as if he were an anchor and her a ship drifting farther and farther from the shore.

She was afraid of slipping too far away and having no way of making it back.

She feared getting lost at sea.

She feared losing herself.

So she held onto him with the last of her strength still curled into herself.

She screamed as they wrenched her body flat.

The scream echoed through the cabin. Through the forest outside. Deep inside of Alex that scream reverberated like a slice of a knife going through him.

He wanted to hold her. To gather her in his arms. To protect her from the world and from the pain.

He wanted to save her.

She was already well on her way to saving him.

Alex finally understood the nights when Andrew would roll over in bed and the name Jules would fall from his lips like a whispered secret. It would hang on the air. Suspended despite the weight of that whisper. Despite everything that the whisper held.

Andrew was in love with Jules. That was plain to see to everyone but her.

Alex never missed when he saw Danni staring with such intensity at Andrew that he imagined Andrew should burst into flames. Danni knew. Even though she never acknowledged it Alex knew that Danni knew and always had.

Now Alex could feel her name on his lips ready to fall with a weight to it.

He had seen her courage. Her fight. Her love. Her devotion. Her kindness. Her heart. Her selflessness. Her light.

He had seen everything that made her such a beautiful soul.

Now he looked at her as she writhed in pain. The men holding her feet down as she tried to draw her knees up to her chest to once again curl into the fetal position.

She wanted to protect the wound. She wanted to hide it. She wanted to survive the pain.

He held her hand just as tightly as she held his. Like they were locked in a struggle he held her hand anchoring her to the shore. Being her mooring.

The doctor reached the tweezers into the exposed wound that pumped so much of her blood. Blood that was such a deep crimson it looked like cherry wine. 

Jules let out another earth shattering scream. The kind of scream that would befit an angel as their wings are ripped from their back. Alex held her hand tighter.

There was a large commotion. People shouting. A woman’s voice dark and angry like a storm cloud churning and promising the very destruction of a cyclone filled the cabin.

Alex looked up to see Danni throwing a right hook to the man trying to hold her back and push her back out of the cabin. Her fist landed with a loud crack. She was not playing around.

The man stumbled back and Danni shoved her way past with her eyes never once leaving Jules.

It was only another moment when Andrew appeared at the door propped up on a youth red faced from partially carrying Andrew to the cabin.

It was in that moment that Jules’s hand let go of it’s strength. The hold she had on Alex slackened.

Without warning her hand went limp and she was gone.

Lost to the abyss the lighthouse crumbled.

In that moment all three ships crashed upon the rocks.

Without their lighthouse they were lost in the darkness.

They were doomed.

They always had been.

They could not survive with one less light.

The cabin erupted in chaos.

A scream like a fox caught in a bear trap deep in the woods tore through the cabin. It was guttural. Feral. Wild. Dangerous. It was an awful noise.

It was Danni.

She sank to her knees on the floor that was soaked with the blood of her greatest love.

Dropping her head in her hands she let out another muffled scream before she began to weep.

Alex’s heart fell into the pit of his stomach. He squeezed her hand again wanting to feel her strength. Her anger. Her fight.

Fuck the world let her live. He repeated the words over and over again in his head like a mantra.

He willed life into her. He did not let her hand go even when he turned to see the doctor shaking his head. Alex did not hear the words. He did not want to.

Gone, gone, gone.

So she was.

Andrew collapsed against the wall of the cabin that Jules had helped build with her bare hands.

The foundation strong with sturdy walls.

Walls that now held Andrew up as he stared at Jules who moved not a bit.

He had seen when her chest had risen and fell then stuttered and stopped.

He had seen her last breath. He had watched her life end. He had seen her soul depart.

Gone, gone, gone.

Alex would not release her hand. It would take several men to pry his fingers open to release her delicate hand that was so well worn with cuts and scrapes from all the raw materials she worked with building a community for people that were all damned.

Damned to live on an earth soon to be dead.

Damned to waiting for their deaths.

Damned to live in a world that stamped out any bit of sunlight that had the gall to shine.

Shine like Jules had.

Had.

Past tense.

Fuck, it was all over.

Gone, gone, gone.

Andrew removed his hand from his side where the festering wound ate away at his body and his soul.

Let the sickness take him. He did not care. He had fought for only her. Now that she gone, gone, gone he had no reason to fight anymore.

The sunlight was gone. Let the death come upon him.

He leaned his head back against the wall and stared up at the ceiling that Jules had built like it was the Sistine Chapel.

Beautiful designs he saw in the wooden planks that she had hammered in herself. He could see so many shapes in his fevered state. The boards had been nailed together by loving hands. By hands that belonged to a pure soul that wanted only happiness for the world around her.

She was so beautiful as she lay there in her quiet state. She was always beautiful. There was never a moment she wasn't. Even as she lay in silence on the kitchen table of the doctor who had tried to save her life she held her beauty.

When you were a beautiful spirit like her that beauty never stopped shining through.

Danni’s sobs were deep and gut wrenching. They rose from deep within her. They held the rage she felt towards the world. They held her greatest fears come true. They held the pain of losing the last thing in this world she had cared about.

Gone, gone, gone.

In one moment everyone went silent. It was as if they had all felt the calm before the storm.

Andrew’s eyes rolled back towards Jules. Alex squeezed her hand and placed her knuckles to his lips. Danni’s hands fell to her side as she released her last sob and quieted.

There was silence. Then like angel wings brushing the ground they all heard it.

Jules took a single breath.

OoOo


	13. Something So Precious About This

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Finally working on updates again amidst this quarantine.
> 
> Please enjoy and stay safe!

“Perfect creature rarely seen.” Andrew sung the words under his breath. They were almost as quiet as the fluttering gasp Jules had taken when she made her way back into the world.

When she forced the door between the living and the dead open again.

When she had come back to them.

Back to...him.

“What does that mean?” The doctor held his fingers against Jules’s wrist checking her pulse.

He noted that it was weak and quivering as Jules clung to the very edges of this world.

Still he would take any pulse over none at all.

Especially with Jules.

If there was anyone more needed in this community he had yet to meet them.

Jules gave everything for everyone else.

It was her biggest flaw and her greatest gift.

The doctor glanced around the cabin remembering how it had been Jules who with hammer and nail had built his home from the ground up.

The doctor turned his attention back to Andrew raising one eye to accent his question.

“Nothing. Just something I wrote a long time ago.” The doctor that Andrew had learned was regularly referred to simply as Barns looked at him a moment longer.

“How are the antibiotics working for you?” There was a heaviness to the question even though it was a simple inquiry.

“I feel like I’m going to vomit every time I take one which is a vast improvement over the hell I felt 24 hours ago.” Andrew believed that the only reason he felt so much better had less to do with the antibiotics that had barely had the time to take effect and more to do with the fact that every cell of his being was focused on Jules.

On her survival.

“Good. If she’s willing to give her life for yours the least you could do is survive.”

Barns snapped the old fashioned leather case he kept his tools in shut with a resounding click and left the room without hurry.

Though he certainly was not going to stick around to see what Andrew had to say in return.

Andrew said nothing.

There was nothing to say.

The doctor was right.

Everything Jules had done for him, even without his knowledge, weighed on him.

They were more good graces wasted on an evil man that he could never live up to deserving.

He collapsed into the chair set next to Barns’s bed that had become Jules’s makeshift hospital bed.

His hand engulfed hers as he reached out his arm to rest it beside her bruised and beaten body and grasp her hand.

He let his fingers interlace with hers in a gesture that was far too intimate than he should be expressing.

Something about her condition made him bold though.

He was unafraid of these emotions suddenly.

Their weight had lessened.

Instead of fear he felt hope.

That hope that Jules so often could illicit from anyone.

She did not stir as he grasped her hand.

Barns had patched her up to the best of his ability.

He had been covered in blood up to his elbows by the time the doctor had been able to staunch the bleeding, sew Jules up, and bandage her chest.

Jules was anything but safe now.

Barns had informed them that she was clinging to life by a single thread.

Her damn stubborn will to live was the only thing helping her through.

There could be internal bleeding, a blossoming infection, so many possibilities that he could not treat with the small amount of equipment he had here.

When Andrew asked him how they could do to help Barns had looked him dead in the eye and said one word.

“Pray.”

OoOo

“How is she?” The words were slow like molasses and slightly slurred.

Andrew looked up to see Danni stumbling into the room.

Her face always looking like a woman barely in her 20s had aged 10 years in the past day.

She looked exhausted.

Huge dark circles like bruises graced the space under her eyes.

Danni had been so distraught that Barns had taken it upon himself to sedate her.

She needed the rest he had told everyone.

Andrew knew it was more due to the fact that Danni was the bossiest person he had ever met and she would have questioned every single decision made in regards to Jules’s care.

Andrew also knew that Jules’s stubbornness was eclipsed only by that of Danni’s.

So he was less than surprised that Danni was fighting the sedatives and stumbling into the room far before she should be awake.

Danni glanced at Andrew’s hand interlaced with Jules’s, said nothing, and shuffled to the foot of the bed.

She looked utterly broken but there was a fire burning deep in her eyes glossy with unshed tears.

There was a moment when Andrew thought Danni would crawl into Jules’s bed but then she thought better of it and sat on the edge resting her hand lightly on Jules’s leg.

She touched her like a fragile piece of blown glass.

Danni worried about breaking her.

Andrew worried about losing her.

The sound of approaching footsteps caused both of their heads to turn.

They acted defensive. As if they were ready to fight anyone willing to walk into the room with malicious intent.

If anyone wanted to threaten Jules in her weakened state they would have several barriers to get through.

Armed community members had been posted like guards around the doctor’s cabin. 

Tom himself slept on the couch in the living room a pistol strapped to his hip, only the click of the safety would stand between him and an intruder.

They did not know if anyone would follow them back from the city.

They had not been careful about their escape.

There had not been time to be careful.

For now Jules was safe.

Safe from everything outside of her.

That Angel of Death though held long tendril like hands onto her spirit ready to pull her out of this world and into whatever waited next.

Alex stood in the doorway looking just as tired as the other two.

His eyes swept over Jules’s face so pale and drained of blood, then over Andrew’s hand wrapped around Jules’s as Danni gently stroked her ankle through the throw blanket tucked in around her.

“It’s my shift.” Alex gently announced the words but did not put any force behind them.

It was his turn to keep an eye on Jules for any change good or bad.

They did not want her to wake up alone.

Or to...die alone.

Neither of the other two moved at the sentence and he moved farther into the room.

Pulling up the small hand carved bench pushed under the window facing the west he grasped Jules’s other hand and pressed his lips to the skin cool to the touch but not cold.

Danni smiled wanly at Alex.

She could barely feel anything as the sedatives floated through her system.

Still a slight warmth spread through her as she took in the two boys.

She could choose to see competition or she could see a blanket of love surrounding this woman so deeply deserving of it.

“Do they need more blood?” Danni’s words were still slurred but intelligible.

“No. I think everyone in the community is lined up outside to donate.” Alex didn’t take his eyes off of Jules.

His arm was bandaged with a ring of eclectic purple bandage wrap from where he had given blood.

The blood that Jules needed.

“I’m going to go donate.” Danni announced and Alex glanced up blankly at her.

“They don’t need it. I don’t know if they’d even take it with everything in your system.” Alex kept intensity from his voice as he watched her.

“I’ll stick the damn needle in my arm myself if I have to.” She argued back.

Andrew watched her and saw only the broken love wanting desperately to help her partner in any way possible.

When Alex glanced at him he gave a slight shake of his head trying to convey that Alex should drop the issue.

If Danni got too out of hand they’d simply give her another dose of sedatives.

Her special way of expressing pain and worry by being the biggest pain the ass was new and slightly amusing to him.

The kind way of putting it is that she was determined.

There were some less kind ways of expressing it.

Danni moved with only a slight stumbled from the room the thin crocheted blanket wrapped around her shoulders trailing behind her like a little tail.

“You should get some rest.” Andrew simply nodded at Alex’s words acknowledging that he understood them and found them valid.

Still he did not move.

“I’ve got this.” Alex kept his voice level trying to keep any irritation at Andrew’s clear impression that Alex did in fact not have it in him to keep the metaphorical hold onto Jules as she fought for life.

“I know you do lad. I know you do.” Alex heard the pain in Andrew’s voice and said no more.

Taking Jules’s other hand in his Alex gently stroked her arm in a soothing way not caring that she could probably not even feel the gesture.

The saline solution filtered through the IV drip drip dripping as the two men sat there in silence staring not at each other but at the girl who deserved more than anything to live.

OoOo


	14. Sweet As Cherry Wine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Sorry guys and dolls. 
> 
> I was laid up with a medical issue and on an inhaler for a while.
> 
> I am doing better now and trying to get back to updates.
> 
> I hope you enjoy.
> 
> ****

In Andrew’s mind when Jules opened her eyes it would be announced with fanfare.

The angels of the heavens he did not believe in would sound their trumpets.

Light as if lit by a faceless God would filter down upon her.

Flower petals would fall softly and silently as if she was graced by Mother Nature.

He did not know if that is what he actually believed or if it was simply the dream swirling around in his troubled mind as he dozed lightly slumped into the less than comfortable reading chair he had pulled up next Jules’s hospital bed that was actually Doc Barns’s bed.

The doctor slept lightly and without peace on the couch out in the main room of the cabin.

The doctor woke each time a new community member arrived to donate blood.

Eventually he would turn people away from the door and send them back to their cabins.

They were reaching a point where they had more blood than could be kept refrigerated.

It would be a waste to keep taking it even though people were more than willing to sacrifice for the girl who had brought medicine, real medicine, to the community at the cost that she had paid for it.

They were all bound for death when the world ended but now with this medicine everyone had a fighting chance of living long enough to see that moment of absolute darkness.

Andrew slept in a troubled slumber.

Even with the beautiful images of Jules’s eyes gracing him like a blessing something tugged at him.

Some darker force threatened to pull him back into his usual nightmares.

Of...then.

Before.

The time before the light Jules had unwittingly shone upon him.

Danni and Alex were collapsed in sleep on the padded bench pressed against the wall.

Danni’s head had lolled to the side and now rested on Alex’s shoulder.

Almost instinctually his head had moved to rest atop of her’s his cheek against the crown of her curly blonde hair.

They were all asleep for that moment when Jules eyes slowly like fighting through a thick layer of sticky molasses fluttered open.

She opened her eyes and the whole world was blurry and tilted to the right.

She closed them again sleep threatening to drag her under.

She had never felt this tired before.

It was like she was in a fist fight with the sandman.

Slowly she landed an imaginary punch to the sandman’s gut and her eyes opened and this time stayed opened.

She blinked a few times trying to get the world to come into focus.

A film of blur hung over her vision.

For those most part she was able to make out her surroundings.

She was in a cabin.

She took in the titled ceilings, the placement of the window, the sanding and staining of the wood with methodical precision.

She had built this cabin.

Like every cabin she built in the community she could nail down who’s it was with little difficult.

She was in Doctor Barns’s cabin.

Well that was not a good sign.

Whisper quiet she turned her head to right.

She saw Danni and Alex practically cuddled in sleep.

A smile graced Jules’s lips.

A small one as her body was. too tired to part her lips to show her teeth.

It was a sight she was delighted to see.

Not just her lover Danni in all her long limbed, light haired, gorgeous glory.

It was the fact that Danni had let her guard down enough to trust to sleep next to Alex without solidly punching him in the crotch.

It was not an unheard of event.

Just as quietly Danni turned to the left.

She could feel her hand grasped in someone else’s.

She had imagined it was Danni’s but instead she turned to see Andrew asleep in a chair pulled as close to her bed as his long legs allowed him to be.

She smiled.

Without meaning to her hand gripped her his a little tighter with the small amount of strength she was able to muster.

His eyes flew open.

Hazel molten chocolate eyes fixed on her’s like a falcon narrowing in on it’s prey.

With skilled accuracy he took in her eyes gazing upon him with a bemused smile gracing her beautiful blushing bride pink lips.

“Am I dreaming?” his Irish lilt fell upon her like a warm blanket to her cold body.

“Aren’t I suppose to be the one asking that?”

Jules asked watching his expression.

Her words caused his lips always so even and serious to twitch up in a small smile.

His hand gripped her’s tighter until it felt like he would crush her bones.

She did not protest.

Leaning forward her placed both of his elbows on the bed and pressed their joined hands to his forehead as if in prayer.

“Thank you.” his voice was a murmur and she wondered for a moment if he was actually praying.

She found his eyes on her. 

Leveled on her face and she knew then that he was talking to her.

“Thank you for what?” he throat was dry and the words tore from her like sandpaper across the tender skin of her esophagus.

“So many things. For now let’s just say thank you for staying here. With us. Not...”

“Dying?” she meant it as a joke but it did not come across as well as she had tried.

His eyes turned cold for a moment but she knew it was not directed at her but instead at the word itself or the emotions it evoked in him.

“Yes. Thank you for not dying.” There was a touch of humor to his voice that was so serious only moments before.

“You’re welcome.” he laughed though he still held their joined hands against his forehead as if touching her was the only thing keeping him tethered to his seat.

As if he let go of her he would turn and run from her screaming.

She did not understand his body language or his reactions suddenly sad and then laughing.

She would have laughed at her own joke but even speaking caused her stomach to burn like holy hell fire.

“Jules I need...there’s something I feel I need to tell you. Lately...I know I’m in lo...” he stumbled over his words so much she could not follow until the sentence was almost out of his mouth.

“Andrew don’t.” the words sliced straight through him like a sacrificial knife tearing him in two for a ceremonial death.

He gripped her hand tighter because otherwise he would turn and leave never to come back.

He remained silent and looked down unable to meet her eyes.

“Andrew don’t tell me that when I’m laid up in a bed tied up with tubes and other people’s blood pumping into me. Tell me when we’re out there, smiling, joking. Tell me in a moment where I can feel the words wash over me without all these painkillers dulling my emotions. I want to float because of those words not because these narcotics have my mind wrapped up in loop de loops. Tell me when I can actually do something about it.”

Andrew’s eyes had fallen to her face as she spoke and the widest smile he had allowed himself to spare since the world fell apart had cracked his face in two, white teeth showing like a bared grin.

She ran the tips of her fingers down his cheek and he smiled wider.

Taking her hand he kissed the palm like a promise.

“It’s a date then. Get better. Fast.” he jokingly growled the last word and it almost caused her giggle despite the pain.

Leaning in he kissed her on her forehead not caring about the cold sweat that had gathered there.

“Andrew I have your antibiotics. Oh geez Jules you’re awake.”

A sleepy Doctor Barns stood in the door holding two cups with water and Andrew’s antibiotics nestled inside.

The doctor looked at Jules with a perplexed look on his face.

Damn that girl a was a real fighter was all he could think as he thrust the cups into Andrew’s hands and began to take Jules’s vital signs as quickly as he could.

“Jules!” Danni’s voice a mix of excited joy and anger that tore through the cabin.

Joy that Jules was awake and anger that no one had decided to wake Danni to tell her that Jules was awake.

“Hey love.”

Without missing a beat the room burst into a flurry of movement.

OoOo


	15. When My Baby Found Me

The strumming of the guitar was quiet.

Like that first breath Jules had taken after death had gripped her for mere moments.

She did not remember that moment.

Only the feeling of being cold.

A chill that cut to the bone.

As if all the love that she had experienced in her life were not enough to warm her blood again.

Death had not been lovely.

No pearly white gates.

No clouds.

Angels singing.

It was darkness.

It was cold.

It was empty.

She kept that revelation to herself.

No need to strike more fear into those already afraid if of impending implosion of the sun.

No need to tell them that there was not much on the other side.

As far as she knew at least.

She had only been dead a few moments.

Something had pushed her back though.

She had felt that bitter cold then warm tendrils like fingers pushed her forward.

Her soul had fallen face first into her body.

Then that shuddering breath.

It had been a shock to the system.

Almost painful.

Actually all she remembered after that was pain.

The pain of the bullet still stuck in muscle and bone.

The sticky heat of the blood.

Then the darkness again as she lost consciousness.

This time the darkness was warm, restful, and welcoming.

Jules followed the sound of the guitar.

She had not heard live music in such a long time.

It almost made her jump when she heard the soft notes being picked out of the strings when she was standing looking out the kitchen window at the lake.

Following the music as if she were a rat following the Pied Piper she had wandered out of the house a blanket wrapped around her shoulders to keep the autumn chill from cutting into her.

“You should be resting.” Andrew’s voice chided her before he had even made it around the house.

She had chuckled to herself as she heard the smile in his voice as he scolded her.

How he had known she was there without seeing her she did not know.

Maybe he had eyes in the back of his head.

Or X-ray vision.

She had died and come back.

There were weirder things that could exist in this world.

She firmly knew that now.

“I followed the sound of music. Can you really blame me when it sounds so beautiful?” She shot back at him.

He sat on the work bench placed at the back of the cabin next to the generator.

When he finally caught sight of her his breath caught in his throat.

Broken, battered, and beaten she was still a sight worth gasping for.

Jules caught his look and dipped her head trying to hide the heat that rose up in her cheeks.

They had not talked of love since his almost profession while she lay in Doc’s cabin half dead.

She almost convinced herself that she had imagined it all.

A blood loss hallucination.

Until she would turn and catch him watching her with this look of pure awe.

Then, oh then, she knew that there were many things left unsaid between the two of them.

“Come sit before you collapse.”

She had not noticed that her knees were wobbling as she stood staring at him.

Wrapping her blanket tighter around herself she went to sit down next to him.

He offered one of his long and tapered hands.

She placed her hand in his and he helped ease her onto the bench.

It stung painfully to move and she jerked a little pulling on her stitches.

He ran a hand down her back careful to avoid her bandages as if soothing her pain with the mere touch.

It felt so familiar.

Like those warm fingers thrusting her back into her body.

Like him bringing her back to life.

She looked up at him her mouth in the shape of an O.

Then as she caught a glimpse of his part lipped smile her heart fluttered like a school girl’s staring at her crush and Jules quickly turned her head to look out at the lake again.

“I repeat you should be resting.” Andrew’s voice was more firm now.

He had been joking at first when he heard that familiar sound of her blanket dragging across the leaves.

It had not been the first time she had come to keep him company on this very bench as he stared out across the lake thinking.

Thinking of how he had almost lost her.

An idea that scared him to his very soul.

Then he would think about the fact that his sickened soul should not long for something so pure.

Then an even deeper fear would settle into him.

He did not want to corrupt her.

But oh did he want to possess her.

His heart soared every time her heard that shushing sound of her blanket scraping across the forest floor.

Though now as he watched her flinch at the feeling of sitting he wanted to scoop her up in his arms and carry her to bed.

Whether he would leave her alone in that bed was still up for debate.

An angel on his shoulder the devil always a piece of his soul.

“I’m fine.”

It was such a simple statement.

Still it told the story of the resilience of Jules.

The strength of that girl never ceased to amaze Andrew.

“I doubt that statement entirely but I have long since learned that it is a waste of time to argue with you.” His voice was once again joking and she laughed a little.

“Good, it saves us both a lot of time when you don’t.” Jules shot back at him with a smile.

Damn her smile could melt the very ice around his jagged heart.

The sat in a comfortable silence for a while staring at the reflection of the dying sun on the light waves splashing in the lake.

She did not ask the questions that he did not want to answer.

Where did he get the guitar?

When did he start playing again?

The question he kept asking himself that he could not seem to answer was ‘what did it all mean?’

He had sworn to himself not to play again.

Still he could not help wandering to the woodworkers shop at the cabin across the lake.

He had no control of his fingers as they ran over the strings of a mahogany acoustic hand crafted hanging from a hook on the wall.

“She a beauty huh?” Andrew had snatched his hand back as he took in the man with the warm smile watching him as he cleaned varnish off her hands with a rag.

“Yes, gorgeous.” The man had walked up and pulled the guitar off the hook.

Holding it out gently to Andrew he had no other option than to take it.

Holding the guitar felt so right.

It felt so wrong.

It felt like a familiar friend.

Like a treasured enemy.

He had picked out a few chords his treacherous fingers moving over the strings.

“You’re one of the boarders at Jules and Danni’s place right?”

Andrew had looked up suspiciously as if not everyone in the entire camp knew who he was.

The man continued to smile but held up his hands to hold off Andrew’s intense stare.

“Trust me friend, everyone knows everyone here. Especially the two young men who saved Jules’s life and the girl who owns her heart. Hey, I’ll cut you a deal for that guitar.”

Andrew wanted to put the guitar back on the shelf.

He had nothing to trade anyways.

He did not want the instrument in his hands.

He did not want to let it go.

“I don’t think I could afford it.”

With trembling fingers her reached out to put the guitar back on the hook.

The woodworker slowed his progress with an outstretched arm.

“It’s free.”

Now Andrew looked at him suspiciously.

Nothing in this world ever comes for free.

“It’s free if you’ll play it for Jules. She loves music. I know she’s hurting something awful after that bullet wound. Anything that’ll make her smile makes this whole camp smile believe me.”

Andrew’s hand faltered as it moved to put the guitar back.

He thought for a moment then held out his free hand.

The two men shook hands and without another word Andrew had left with the guitar in a weathered case that he had stuffed with rags to keep the guitar from banging around in.

Now here he sat with Jules next to him holding the guitar in his hands and everything about this situation felt right.

“Will you play me something?” Jules voice was quiet and timid.

He seemed so uncomfortable with the instrument in hand when she knew he was a musician by trade.

She did not want to push him if it was uncomfortable territory to play anymore.

A lot of people had sacrificed a lot of things they loved in this new world.

“Gladly.”

His fingers picked out a simple melody at first gaining confidence.

His fingers were stiff from disuse but soon they warmed.

He felt his hand automatically begin to pick out the chords to “Work Song”.

Jules recognized the song from one of he records that Danni liked to play.

“When, my, time comes around. Lay me gently in the cold dark earth. No grave can hold my body down. I’ll crawl home to her.” She whispered the lyrics as he hit the chorus.

He turned sharply to look at her.

She offered that smile that could soften even the hardest of hearts.

She rested her head on his shoulder then.

Without thinking he leaned down and kissed her on the forehead.

The effort of sitting up for such a long time had caused a thin layer of perspiration to break out on her face.

He finished the song without singing a word.

Looking at her trembling body he secured the guitar in it’s case then with extreme gentleness he gathered her in his arms and began to carry her into the house.

She laughed until it caused her stitches to hurt then she fell silent.

Jules looked up at Andrew’s face as he kept his eyes on the ground making sure that he did not trip on the way back into the house.

Seeing his boyish features.

Feeling her body safe in his arms.

She had one thought.

Oh boy am I in trouble.

OoOo


	16. I Had Been Lost To You

“That damn guitar.” Danni muttered under her breath as she watched Jules and Andrew at the bench below the kitchen window.

Danni could see Jules swaying to music that was too low to hear.

To Danni Jules swayed rhythmically to silence.

“As long as she’s dancing I don’t care.”

Danni told herself and tried to believe it.

She frankly did not.

She could feel that emerald color of envy washing over he as she watched them.

“They’re sickeningly cute together aren’t they?”

Alex asked walking up to where Danni stood.

Danni quickly wiped away the traitorous tear that was threatening to trail down her right cheek.

She did it by moving her hand in one smooth move that looked like she was tucking her curly blonde hair behind her ear.

“Yes sickeningly is the right word.”

Danni crossed her arms over her chest and continued to watch the two love birds. 

Wrapped up in music and that new infatuation that only a schoolyard crush could give you.

“She loves you.”

Alex’s line came out in a tone that seemed to attempt to reassure Danni of something that she had not been doubting to begin with.

“Of course she does.” Danni snapped at him.

Then she sighed and rubbed at her temples where she was starting to feel pressure as a tension headache came on.

“I have never doubted that I love her or her me. However, she has a heart big enough to carry the love of the world if she wanted it to.”

“Jealousy’s a bitch isn’t it?”

Alex meant for his words to be more joking than they came across.

“That it is.”

Danni looked over at him expecting him to be staring at Jules or even herself.

Instead she noted that his eyes lay on Andrew.

She mistook his look of jealously for Andrew to getting to Jules first.

It was simply a contest of who could bed Jules faster.

Danni knew that vicious thought was not true but she could not face this interaction with anything less than malice or she would shatter into pieces.

If she had watched Alex just a little longer as he took Andrew in she would have seen the yearning.

Not for Jules..

Yes, that feeling was there.

No, she would see the yearning for someone that he had once but no longer possessed.

They way Alex looked at Andrew was not the way Andrew looked at Alex.

Not anymore.

Yes there was a draw to Jules.

A magnetic pull to Danni.

It was all there as three people tugged at him.

Drawing his love.

As if sensing the weight of his gaze Andrew turned to catch Alex’s eyes through the window.

Automatically Alex looked away turning from the narrowing of Andrew’s eyes and the slight shake of his head.

“Jealousy really is a bitch isn’t it?”

Danni’s voice was quiet and Alex turned to see her watching him.

Her eyes held a sense of knowing that made him avidly uncomfortable. 

His cheeks flamed red and he turned away from her too.

Going to the hooks on the side of the front door he shrugged into a sweater and pulled the door open.

“I’m going to look for a job. Again. Seems there’s not much use for a former musician around here.”

Alex did not turn to see what Danni’s reaction was.

He felt the weight of her eyes on him as he walked out of the cabin closing the door behind him with a final click.

OoOo

Alex could not shake the feel of Andrew’s body wrapped warmly around him.

With those longs legs bare the hair of them coarse and they had tickled his thigh as Andrew pulled him against him.

Andrew was always the big spoon.

It was just his sort of thing.

“What are you thinking about?”

Andrew had pushed a stray strand of Alex’s hair that had fallen into his eyes behind his ear.

Alex had relished that feeling of his calloused fingers lightly brushing his forehead.

He relished every feeling of Andrew.

They had laid nearly bare stripped down to their boxer briefs on a dirty abandoned box spring they had dragged into one of the rooms of the old apartment building they had holed up in after the world went to shit.

Alex basked in the feeling of Andrew warm and in control.

He pushed away the thoughts of the nights when Andrew would thrash so hard the Alex had to straddle him and hold his limbs down.

Those nights when Andrew would scream “I couldn’t save them!” over and over so loudly that Alex feared he would bring every maniac left in the city running.

At those times Alex would cover Andrew’s lips with his own quieting the screams with his kisses.

Andrew would wake his eyes wild and wet with tears.

His eyes would focus and unfocus until finally he saw Alex above him.

Alex never knew but Andrew felt so safe in those moments.

In that moment he lacked control but he knew Alex held him in such a way that he was not scared.

For just one moment in the bullshit of this Armageddon did he feel unafraid.

“What are you thinking about?”Andrew breathed into Alex’s ear tickling the delicate hairs on his neck as Andrew bent to kiss behind his ear.

Alex warmed and grew hard at the motion.

He did not want to tell Andrew he was thinking about his night terrors.

“Bliss.”

Maybe Alex was less thinking about it than experiencing it.

Still it was the answer that tumbled from his mouth.

Andrew chuckled and rubbed his chin across Alex’s neck.

Neither of them had shaved any time recently so Andrew’s scruffy beard scratched Alex's neck.

Alex had sighed.

Bliss.

Yes, definitely bliss.

OoOo

Alex could feel the tears falling as he trudged away from the cabin.

Away from Danni’s knowing look.

Away from Jules gorgeous oblivion to all that awaited her if she opened her heart to Andrew.

Away from Andrew the only man he had ever fallen for.

Eventually he found himself running away from all of that.

He did not know where he ran to until he found himself at the edge of the lake.

With very little thought he stripped down to his boxer briefs and walked slowly into the icy fall water.

The waves lapped at his skin and raised goosebumps all over his body.

He dunked his head under and stood the water dripping from him in waterfalls.

'I’m washing myself clean. I’m washing myself clean of him.’ He thought to himself as he let that clean lake water bath him in it’s icy deliverance.

Little did he know that some people leave an imprint on our hearts that no amount of water could wash away.

OoOo


	17. Shameless Wonder

Alex trudged back to the cabin silently.

His hands were thrust into his pockets and he felt a small sense of lightness that had been missing from him for some time now.

He felt less miserable.

He felt less empty.

He almost felt like himself.

Two women old enough to be his grandmam had cat called as he had exited the lake as his boxer briefs clung to every curve of his thin but cut hips.

He had blushed as they offered warm but not salacious smiles letting him know their actions were simply a joke.

He had laughed at those smiles of innocence and the look of kindness in their eyes.

Alex had been so obsessed with how he felt without Andrew with him.

With the way Jules’s head was turned towards Andrew at all times.

With they way that Danni’s head was turned towards Jules’s at all times.

He had been so obsessed with being the odd man out that he had not been seeing the beauty of the community here.

Not just the physical beauty of the soft carpet of leaves that covered the trails leading between the tall weathered trees.

It was the kindness in the people he had been ignoring most.

He watched as a young man a few years younger than Alex helped a woman in her 40s collect the apples that had fallen from her basket as she picked them from one of the tall apple trees in the small grove out on the edge of the community.

He remembered the way people had lined up to donate blood for Jules when she had been on the verge of death.

So many people that several had been turned away.

This community was full of beautiful souls.

In facing the end of the world they had put the petty differences so many people often held as a shield in front of themselves here.

Here young or old, female or male, skin color, income, talents.

It had all been placed aside.

Now everyone shared, supported, and carried each other when needed.

Even though everyone would soon be dead at least there was a sense of beauty in that end.

Andrew eyed Alex as he made his way up the stairs of the cabin.

Alex’s hair was wet and messy from the dip in the lake.

He felt Andrew’s eyes on him holding a sense of curiosity tinged with just a bit of worry.

That sense of worry from Andrew pulled at Alex’s heart strings.

He ignored Andrew as Alex walked into the cabin seeing Danni standing in the exact same spot she had been when he left.

She was staring out the kitchen window as Andrew showed Jules how to hold the guitar.

“Any luck?” She did not turn from the window asking the question over her shoulder.

Alex almost asked what she was talking about until he remembered he had gone out to look for a job.

“No, no luck.” Alex said guiltily knowing he should have taken the time to try and find a trade to join.

For the first time Danni turned from the window and fixed Alex with a stare.

It bordered on the edge of a glare but still she appraised him.

Taking in everything from his wet messy hair to the cut of his arms.

Goosebumps rose from his skin as she took him in.

His stomach filled with fire.

With desire.

For Danni.

He tried to squash that flame.

Each moment her eyes remained on him he burned.

For the tiniest moment he saw her features soften.

The intense anger that seemed to permeate her every action these days slipped away like a mask being removed.

Then as if sensing her vulnerability she put the wall right back up between him and her.

Even as she turned from him he could feel the flames of desire licking over his skin.

He gripped her hand and pulled her back towards him.

It had been unconscious as if some invisible force had compelled him to pull her to him.

He half expected her to slap him. 

Instead she allowed her body to be pressed against his.

“We could make them jealous too you know.” 

His voice was quiet and smooth.

He once again expected to be slapped.

Instead he saw contemplation in her eyes before they hardened again.

“I am not that petty. You should try the woodworker.”

He was caught off guard by her second statement.

It had nothing to do with romance, jealousy, or revenge.

“What?” he stammered very aware that her body was still pressed against his.

“The woodworker across the lake. He sometimes makes guitars. His last apprentice went on a supply run. He did not make it back. He might take you in and teach you the trade.”

“Oh.”

“Oh?” Danni cocked an eyebrow at him.

“I mean thank you. That’s kind of you to share.” Alex felt taken aback.

Was he so undesirable that she would rather discuss employment than romance?

“You’re welcome.” 

There was a tense moment charged with electricity as they stared each other down.

Danni broke the tension when she leaned down and kissed him on the forehead.

The action was motherly and it broke Alex’s heart.

“You deserve to be loved Alex. Do not forget that.”

Danni reached her hand up and pushed the wet strands of hair out of his face.

The feel of her fingers rekindled that fire.

Suddenly she was tracing the soft skin of his lips with the tips of her fingers.

He wanted to close his eye and groan in pleasure just to simply to be touched.

Not by just anyone.

By her.

By Danni.

He thought for just a moment her lips would be on his.

He saw the idea in her eyes as she warred with herself.

“Imagine being loved by me.” She whispered softly before breaking away from him to stride to the bedroom with a fluid grace.

He knew the lyric well and all he could think it that he most certainly would be tonight.

The door opened pulling Alex out of his small bubble of happiness.

“If it isn’t the happy couple.” Alex’s voice came out far harsher than he had planned.

Jules’s face a moment ago happy turned to an expression of guilt.

Andrew’s face barely contained his anger.

“I need to go check on something.” Alex mumbled shouldering his way between the two and moving through the cabin doorway.

Alex could not hear what Andrew murmured to Jules as he left and Alex simply did not care what it was.

His mind was too consumed with his lips that still tingled with the feel of Danni’s fingers on them.

“Imagine being loved by me.” He sung gently under his breath as he wound his way around the lake trying to make it to the woodworker’s as quickly as he could.

This time he appreciated the beauty of the community as it unfurled around him.

For once he saw the world with beauty instead of the darkness he had believed already consumed it.

OoOo


End file.
